Man accused of holding a woman captive in a makeshift cell in his Oregon rental garage learns fate

An Oregon man accused of holding a woman captive in a makeshift cell in his rental garage has learned his fate.

Negasi Zuberi, 30, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, the US Attorneys Office for the District of Oregon announced.

The verdict came after less than four hours of deliberations, following a weeks-long trial in which jurors heard from the two women Zuberi kidnapped and sexually assaulted for hours at a time, The Oregonian reports. 

He was accused of taking the two 21-year-old women back to his house in Klamath Falls, one in May 2023 and one in July 2023, and keeping them locked up.

But police only arrested Zuberi after the second woman managed to force her way out of a cinderblock cell inside his garage and flag down a driver.

Negasi Zuberi, 30, was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon

Authorities have said Zuberi first kidnapped and raped a local woman months who was celebrating Cinco de Mayo at a bar in town.

The woman claimed Zuberi had also handcuffed her hands and legs, Tased her, assaulted her and raped her before driving her to his house.

While in the car, Zuberi hit her multiple times in the head and fired the taser gun into her ribs,  Assistant US Attorney Nathan Lichvarcik said.

The prosecutor added the woman was forced to have sex in the back of his car multiple times.

She claimed in court that she became concussed from the physical attack and had to repeat the names of friends and families to stay awake, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

I genuinely thought I was dying, the woman told jurors, noting that a part of her was hoping she would die.

The woman went on to claim that Zuberi told her his plan was to impregnate many women and raise an army with their children.

She said she had to make up a story about having to give her sick dog medications for Zuberi to let her go free after 13 hours being held captive, according to The Oregonian.

The woman said Zuberi then took her to an ATM, where he gave her $300 and warned her against reporting what happened.

But the brave woman told authorities days later about the kidnapping and sexual assault.

Unfortunately, she said, the officer who interviewed her did not take her unwashed clothes she wore during the assault of a sketch she made of her attacks.

The officer also never called her back, the victim testified, saying she had to call police three to four more times before another officer told her the department would alert her if there were any developments in the case.

From her perspective, local police did not take it seriously, didn’t follow up and left (her) really frustrated, Lichvarcik said in court. 

Pictured: The black metal door prosecutor say Zuberi locked his two victims behind. Here, it is shown from the inside of the makeshift cell

Pictured: The inside of the cell that Zuberi allegedly held two women in

Months later, the second victim met Zuberi 450 miles away from his Klamath Falls home in Seattle, Washington on the night of July 15, 2023.

He approached her and solicited her for prostitution, but after the sex was completed, he flashed a false police badge and claimed to be an undercover cop, according to an affidavit.

He then threatened her with a Taser before securing her with handcuffs and leg irons, and throwing her in the back of his Honda Pilot, it says.

From  there, Zuberi drove more than 400 miles back to Klamath Falls while the victim asked why the trip was taking so long.

She finally realized Zuberi was not actually a police officer - and she had been abducted - when she glanced at his cellphone screen and noticed the GPS said they were two hours and four minutes from their destination.

During that drive, Zuberi also stopped to sexually assault the woman. He later stopped again to cover the womans face with a sweatshirt, prosecutors claimed.

Once they reached his home, prosecutors said Zuberi locked the woman inside the cinderblock cell.

She briefly fell asleep, but awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape, according to the affidavit.

At that point, the 120-pound woman started punching the metal door to the cell until she was able to squeeze her body through a narrow opening to escape the next morning.

She took a handgun from Zuberis vehicle before scaling a fence outside the home shed been in against her will for hours, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor said she was bleeding but had the wherewithal to flag down a motorist, screaming, He raped me!

The cinderblock cell was constructed inside Zuberis Klamath Falls home

The victim was brought to a local hospital for a sexual assault examination in the aftermath, and then led law enforcement to Zuberis home.

There, officers found a handwritten note titled Operation Take Over, which prosecutors described as a target list of women in their 20s and a jottings on how he planned to raise an army.  

The note read in part Leave phone at home and Make sure they dont have a bunch of ppl in their life. You dont want any type of investigation.

Dig a hole straight down, 100 feet, another said. 

Officers also found the cell inside Zuberis garage that was made of cinder blocks and a metal door was installed in reverse so it could not be opened from the inside. 

Zuberi was ultimately arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Reno, Nevada with his family.

He was inside his Honda Pilot at the time, holding his child when prosecutors say he cut himself with a sharp object causing him to bleed profusely and tried to destroy his phone.

He then allegedly told Reno police, It looks like my attempt to kill myself is not working.

Pictured: The note found inside Zuberis residence

Another handwritten document appeared to include a rough sketch for an underground structure using concrete blocks, foam insulation and waterproof concrete

But his defense attorneys argued that the victims stories were not reliable and didnt match the evidence.

Attorney Michael Bertholf noted that the first woman never got tested for STDs following the sexual assault, and urged jurors to question why the prosecution was presenting so much testimony that was not directly related to the charges against Zuberi.

This case is a case of government overreach, he claimed, according to The Oregonian.

Yet the defense did not call any witnesses during the trial.

Instead, they played footage Zuberi caught on camera from the back of his Honda Pilot on May 6, 2023, that they claimed showed the first victim and Zuberi were having consensual sex.

Attorney Amy E. Potter noted the woman called Zuberi attractive and that Zuberi complied when she told him to stop recording.

The woman, however, testified that Zuberi filmed what he called an insurance video, demanding she lie on top of him and pretend she was having a good time.

Prosecutors then argued he created the video to silence or blackmail the woman, threatening to play it for others if she ever reported the assault.

He made her fears come true by playing it for the jury of 12, Lichvarcik said.

Hes preying on people he thinks are weak, preying on people he thinks are vulnerable and he misjudged big time. 

The victims said they were kept inside his Klamath Falls home for hours 

Zuberi had previously been convicted of assault in California for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old girl and then beating her in a remote area of Alameda County.

He is now facing life in prison on the kidnapping charge, up to 10 years for criminal activity and up to 15 years behind bars for illegally possessing firearms and ammo.

He is now scheduled to be sentenced on January 16.

In the meantime, he is still facing a pending charge of attempted escape from the Jackson County Jail.

Zuberi is accused of using an improvised, screw-like device to strike and shatter glass in his cell on August 22, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Oregonian.

He then allegedly covered the shattered lass with books and paper in an attempt to hide it, but the device was later found attached to his sandal.