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.