MEDFORD, Ore. -- Sex is a starting point for federal prosecutors' case against a 30-year-old Klamath Falls man on trial for kidnapping, sex and weapons charges.
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Woman tells federal court jury about kidnap, sex and weapons from Seattle to Klamath Falls
Sex is a starting point for federal prosecutors' case against a 30-year-old Klamath Falls man on trial for kidnapping, sex and weapons charges.
A woman's escape and the arrest of Negasi Zuberi on criminal charges are turning points that put the case in federal court today in Medford where Zuberi's trial had its first witness testimony today.
It came from a woman who said she was so scared and trapped in Zuberi's home that she bit off her fingernails to escape, allowing her to make fists to beat down two doors to run barefoot from his Klamath Falls home in July 2023.
The U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO, or prosecution) for Oregon started its witness testimony today in its case against Negasi Zuberi, and it started with a woman from Seattle whom it says Zuberi drove to Klamath Falls to hold her captive in a cinder block cell he built in his garage, a man whom prosecutors say wanted to have "power, control and sexual dominance" over women.
Today at the James A. Redden U.S. Courthouse in Medford, the Zuberi trial's first witness acknowledged she was a prostitute July 14th, 2023 when she encountered Zuberi, a night she says started in Seattle and ended the next morning in Klamath Falls.
She told the Court that after she provided sex for Zuberi in a Seattle alley, he falsely presented himself as a police officer throughout an overnight drive to Klamath Falls.
She said as he used a taser to put her in handcuffs and leg irons in the back compartment of his car, he said he was a police officer in a sting operation that was watching her as a target and said, "We've been watching you all along."
The woman said Zuberi said he'd let her go once he took her to a "secure location" and that he had "a device that shuts off cell phones," after asking if she'd noticed her phone wasn't working.
She said she was "scared. I can't believe this is happening. I just wanted to go home. I just wanted to get out of the car."
The woman described the encounter that kept her initially in the back of Zuberi's car while he drove it south, ultimately for hours, asking personal questions such as her birthday, whether her hair was real, whether she had anyone close to her and if she had kids. Part of the prosecution's case accuses Zuberi of intending to start an army of his own children with various women under a title of "Operation Takeover."
The woman said Zuberi, during his overnight drive with her captive in his car, showed her a gun to say, "he was serious," and "He said he was a different kind of cop."
The woman testified she did not think he was a police officer, though, "He seemed strangely friendly, like he was trying to make me feel comfortable," yet as their drive lingered, "I started kind of freaking out, like, 'Where are you taking me?'"
She said Zuberi denied her repeated requests to be let out of the car, as nobody but them knew where she was.
She told the Court that Zuberi said he was taking her "to a secure location" to be released, yet kept her captive with handcuffs, leg irons, a gun and taser until removing them the next day at a cinder block room in Zuberi's house.
She said she "asked him, 'Are you kidnapping me?' And he said 'No,' but I could tell he was."
She told jurors she was scared, asking Zuberi if he was going to kill her. She testified that Zuberi said he would not kill her because she was "too valuable," and too precious, "a princess."
The witness said Zuberi spoke badly about police and about "stuff that he'd done. Weird, just weird." She said that when she asked Zuberi why he was taking her, he invoked a fake police status to explain his long drive, saying, "Because he had taken, taken things too far, and back in the alley he wasn't supposed to go that far, and back in alley people were watching us," as he had broken rules in the fabricated police sting.
The woman said she'd seen an indication that they were in Oregon after driving 4-5 hours, and stopping at a gas station with the sun rising, "He parked and got out of the car ... I thought about calling for help, but there was nobody around."
She testified that then Zuberi went around to her door and had her stand up. She thought he was going to let her go, but he commanded her to perform oral sex, unprotected, and "He looked insane," becoming scary. She described a further sexual violation and said his eyes were bloodshot and his character changed, "He just was forceful and aggressive."
The woman said she was still in handcuffs and leg irons and did not consent to sex he forced on her during the travel to his home.
She said Zuberi's demeanor changed dramatically, "He looked scared, nervous, paranoid ... he acted completely different." She said he could tell she was scared, and "He was saying, 'Don't be afraid. We're all going to die. I'm going to die, you're going to die ... I can tell you're nervous." She said that his comment did not calm her.
The woman testified she got most loud in the car when she asked him about whether he was going to kill her, and she was screaming, crying and hitting the car's seat.
She testified that Zuberi continued the law enforcement ruse as he drove her to his garage, after covering her face with a hoodie he'd put on her backwards, telling her he was taking her to "a transition center" for releasing people from police and other people would be there.
The woman said at the destination, she saw a garage door, and Zuberi walked her blindly to a room where the temperature was about 100 degrees and, "I said, 'What is this? I can't stay in here.'" She testified that he said it was for interrogation and she'd not be in the room long, quoting his remark that, "'It makes people sweat and makes them tell the truth.'"
She said though Zuberi removed her handcuffs and leg irons once captive at his house, he told her to calm down by saying, "This isn't 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'"
She told jurors today after she asked repeatedly to be released, and he did not release her -- she took matters into own hands literally.
In court, jurors saw in person a steel-framed door the woman broke through with her fists -- before breaking another wooden door's jamb to escape the cinder block cell and Zuberi's home which she later identified to police.
Similarly, she identified Zuberi by pointing at him in a federal courtroom, saying he was the man who kidnapped and raped her as a hostage under threat of weapons.
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