Negasi Zuberi faces 8 more charges in kidnapping cases after attempted jailbreak
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Negasi Zuberi – the man accused of kidnapping a woman and locking her in a cinderblock cell in his Klamath Falls home – has been newly indicted on eight counts, according to Oregon court records.
The document filed on Feb. 15 shows Zuberi faces charges of kidnapping, transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity, and illegally possessing firearms with ammunition in relation to an ongoing FBI investigation from July 2023.
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Zuberi is also accused of kidnapping a separate victim two months earlier on May 6 and later attempting to escape from his prison cell after pleading not guilty to these crimes in August.
According to the FBI, Zuberi has lived in 10 states over the past 10 years and is linked to at least four sexual assaults in four of those states. Authorities believe there could be additional victims.
The investigation has expanded to multiple states, including Washington; Oregon; Colorado; Utah; Florida; New York; New Jersey; Alabama; and Nevada.
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Kidnapping: May 2023
On Sept. 21, a Klamath County grand jury indicted 29-year-old Zuberi on 10 felony charges and one Class A misdemeanor including first-degree rape, sodomy and kidnapping with a firearm.
Details of the May 6 kidnapping are not clear, but the recent indictment states he “did unlawfully and willfully seize, confine, decoy, kidnap, abduct, and carry away and hold” another person.
Kidnapping: July 2023
On Aug. 2, 2023, investigators revealed that Zuberi – also known as Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi – was in federal custody for kidnapping and sexual assault after a woman had escaped from his home.
Court documents show that, on July 15, 2023, Zuberi traveled from his southern Oregon home to Seattle, where he approached a woman around midnight near Aurora Avenue and solicited her for prostitution.
Officials say Zuberi claimed to be a police officer and showed the victim a badge saying he needed to take her into custody, pointing a taser at the victim before putting her in handcuffs and leg irons and forcing her into the back of his car.
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He then drove 450 miles to Klamath Falls and stopped at a gas station and put a backward sweatshirt on the woman to cover her face before driving to his home at 1336 North El Dorado Ave, court documents show.
The woman said once they arrived at the house, he put her into a makeshift cell in the garage that he had made out of cinderblocks with a metal door that could not be opened from the inside.
Authorities say the woman was locked in the cell for a few hours, but when Zuberi left, she escaped by punching and banging on the door several times to break the welds.
Once outside the cell, the woman said she fled the house and flagged down someone who called 911.
Outside the cinderblock cell in Negasi Zuberi’s house (FBI) Interior of the cinderblock cell in Negasi Zuberi’s house (FBI) Looking through the door of the cinderblock cell in Negasi Zuberi’s house (FBI) Photos of Negasi Zuberi, older photo on the left and a current photo on the right (FBI) (Washoe County Detention Facility via AP)
The next day, Zuberi was arrested in Reno, Nevada in a Walmart parking lot while holding one of his children in the front seat of his car and talking to his wife, according to law enforcement.
Attempted Escape: August 2023
On Aug.14, Zuberi pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity.
Less than two weeks later, deputies said he had attempted to escape his jail cell by breaking through the glass in his cell window at the Jackson County Jail on Aug. 22.
A maintenance worker outside the building told deputies that a suspicious noise had been coming from inside one of the cells. When they responded, they found Zuberi “standing on his bunk bed near a chipped window in his cell.”
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A search of the cell revealed an “improvised tool” that deputies suspect had been used to deal the damage. However, authorities say the jail’s reinforced windows meant Zuberi was only able to damage the interior layer.
Zuberi was charged with second-degree attempted escape and first-degree disorderly conduct. He was also moved to a hard cell with no exterior windows.
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