Oregon man who kidnapped Seattle woman and kept her in makeshift cell gets life sentence

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has been sentenced to life in federal prison after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women in separate instances, including one of them was locked in a cinder block cell.

Negasi Zuberi, 31, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Medford, Portland TV station KGW reported. A federal jury convicted him in October of charges of kidnapping, transportation for criminal sexual activity, felon in possession of a weapon and attempting to escape from prison while trying to break down the window of his cell in August 2023.

“He’s not a man who deserves to be with others,” one victim said during the hearing. “He demonstrates a blatant disregard and lack of concern for human life. »

The Associated Press generally does not name people who have been sexually assaulted.

“Negasi Zuberi is a serial predator who has committed evil acts. He chased women,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sweet said before Zuberi was sentenced.

In July 2023, Zuberi solicited a woman to engage in prostitution along Aurora Avenue in Seattleauthorities said. He told the woman he was an undercover officer, showed her a badge, pointed a Taser at her and put her in handcuffs and leg irons before putting her in the back of his vehicle .

He then drove hundreds of miles to his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and locked the woman in a cinder block cell in his garage, according to the FBI. After the woman escaped after repeatedly banging on the cell door until it opened, Zuberi fled and was arrested in Reno, Nevada.

Federal authorities later linked him to a second kidnapping in May 2023, in which he was convicted of kidnapping a woman outside a Klamath Falls bar. Prosecutors said he threatened her with a Taser, handcuffed her in the back of his vehicle and sexually assaulted her.

Zuberi had pleaded not guilty and continued to maintain his innocence during the sentencing hearing.

He waived his right to testify during the 11-day trial. He attempted to testify on the last day of the trial, but was refused because he had previously waived this right.