Oregon man who kidnapped a Seattle woman and held her in a makeshift cell was sentenced to life in prison
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has been sentenced to life in federal prison for repeatedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women, including locking one in a cinderblock cell.
Negasi Zuberi, 31, was sentenced Friday in Medford federal court, Portland television station KGW reported. A federal jury convicted him in October of kidnapping, transportation for sex crimes, being a felon in possession of a weapon and attempting to escape from prison in August 2023 when he tried to smash a cell window.
One victim told the hearing: “This is not a man worth being around. He showed a blatant disregard for human life and a lack of concern.”
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The Associated Press generally does not name people who have been sexually assaulted.
“Negasi Zuberi was a serial predator who committed evil acts. He preyed on women,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sweet said before Zuberi was sentenced.
Authorities said that in July 2023, Zuberi solicited a woman for prostitution along Aurora Avenue in Seattle. He told the woman he was an undercover police officer, showed her his badge, pointed a Taser at her, handcuffed and shackled her and put her in the back seat of the car.
He then drove hundreds of miles back to his home in Klamath Falls, Ore., and locked the woman in a cinderblock cell in his garage, according to the FBI. The woman ran away after banging on the cell door multiple times until it opened, and Zuberi escaped and was arrested in Reno, Nevada.
Federal authorities later linked him to a second kidnapping in May 2023, when he was convicted of kidnapping a woman outside a Klamath Falls bar. Prosecutors say he threatened her with a Taser, handcuffed her in the back seat of a car and sexually assaulted her.
Zuberi pleaded not guilty and continued to claim his innocence during the sentencing hearing.
He waived his right to testify during the 11-day trial. He tried to testify on the final day of the trial but was refused because he had earlier waived that right.
