Details emerge about suspect accused of locking a woman in cinderblock cell
A man who is accused of kidnapping a woman and holding her in a cinder block cell that she escaped by punching her way out had been on law enforcement's radar and is now suspected of other sexual assaults.
The woman was kidnapped from Seattle, chained, and driven to a home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, according to the FBI. Negasi Zuberi, 29, is now behind bars in Nevada, waiting to be extradited to Oregon, where he is charged in federal court with interstate kidnapping and transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
The FBI said Zuberi may have used other methods of gaining control of women, including drugging their drinks. The agency suspects him in sexual assaults in at least four more states that it did not name and said it set up a website asking anyone who believes they may have been a victim to come forward.
Before moving to Klamath Falls, a city of some 22,000 people, a few months ago, Zuberi lived in Vancouver, Washington, where court records show the landlord sought to evict him.
Landlord Abishek Kandar said in a text message that Zuberi didn't pay rent for six months, illegally sublet the home, bred puppies, damaged the property and threatened neighbors.
"He is a horrible person," Kandar said. "He deserves to be in jail."
Zuberi lived in numerous states. According to court records, a man with one of Zuberi's alleged aliases, Justin Kouassi, was accused of punching a person in the face in Denver last year. An arrest warrant was issued for Kouassi', court records show, but Denver police do not have any record of Zuberi or anyone with one of his aliases being arrested.
In the Seattle kidnapping, Zuberi posed as an undercover police officer when he kidnapped the woman, the FBI said Wednesday.
After the woman escaped, Zuberi fled but was arrested by state police in Reno, Nevada, the next afternoon, the FBI said.
Heather Fraley, a lawyer with the federal public defender's office in Las Vegas who was listed as Zuberi's attorney, declined to discuss the case when reached Wednesday, including whether she's still representing him. Zuberi hasn't yet been assigned a public defender in Oregon as he's still being transferred from Nevada, which can take several weeks, said Kevin Sonoff, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Oregon.
Zuberi could face up to life in prison if convicted of the federal charges in Oregon.
According to the FBI, Zuberi also went by the names Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi.
