A federal jury found in Oregon on Friday found Negasi Zuberi, 30, guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women and attempting to escape from jail in 2023. Photo by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Oct. 22 (UPI) — An Oregon man was convicted Friday for the 2023 kidnapping of a sex worker in Seattle and transporting her 450 miles to a home in Klamath Falls, Ore.
A jury in the U.S. District Court of Oregon found Negasi Zuberi guilty of two counts of kidnapping, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, two counts of being a felon in possession of ammunition, and one count of transportation for criminal sexual activity.
The charges arose from separate kidnappings and sexual assaults in 2023 followed by Zuberi’s attempted escape from jail in August 2023.
Zuberi, 30, kidnapped the victim in Seattle on July 15, 2023, when he posed as an undercoverpolice officer, threatened her with a Taser and handcuffed her before puttingher in his car’s backseat.
Zuberi drove her to his rented home in Klamath Falls and placed her in a cinderblock cell that he erected in the garage and tried to make soundproof.
The victim said Zuberi raped her during the drive from Seattle to Klamath Falls, which is located in southeastern Oregon about 50 miles south of Crater Lake National Park.
The kidnapping victim said she knew she’d be killed if she stayed there and repeatedly punched a security screen until it gave way and she forced her way through a small opening in an external door to escape after being locked in the makeshift cell for several hours.
After fleeing, she ran down the road until a good Samaritan helped her complete her escape and call 911.
Local and state police used cellphone tracking to locate Zuberi in Reno, Nev., and arrested him after a 45-minute standoff in a Walmart parking lot on July 16, 2023.
While investigating the case, federal agents learned Zuberi kidnapped and raped another woman about six weeks earlier and took her to the same rented home in Klamath Falls.
That woman told investigators she saw cinderblocks stacked inside the garage, which Zuberi used to construct the cell in which he placed the second victim in July.
A federal grand jury on Aug. 2, 2023, indicted Zuberi on charges of kidnapping and transporting a victim with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
A second kidnapping charge plus charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and the attempted escape from jail were added on Feb. 15.
Zuberi faces life in prison for each kidnapping count plus up to 10 years for firearm and ammunition possession by a felon. He also faces up to 15 years in prison for the attempted escape from jail.
The FBI’s Portland field office, Klamath Falls Police Department, Klamath County District Attorney’s Office and the Oregon State Police investigated the case with assistance from the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Nevada State Police, Reno Police Department and Washoe County District Attorney’s Office in Nevada also assisted.
A sentencing hearing will determine Zuberi’s prison sentence.
FBI Portland Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Shark in August 2023 said there is evidence Zuberi, who has used several aliases, committed at least four other violent sexual assaults in four other states and might have done more.
Shark said Zuberi might have committed similar crimes in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Nevada.
Zuberi also appeared on the Judge Judy television show in 2018 using the name Justin Hyche and prevailed in a case against a former girlfriend that involved damaged clothing.
