A man accused of kidnapping an Oregon woman and locking her in a makeshift cell made of cinder blocks was allegedly caught attempting to break out of his cell at the Jackson County Jail last week.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon said 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi attempted to break through the reinforced glass in his cell window at the jail.
Zuberi was only able to damage the interior layer of the window, according to deputies.
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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. (Washoe County Detention Facility)
At about 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, a maintenance worker at the jail alerted deputies that a suspicious noise was coming from inside one of the jail cells.
Responding deputies discovered Zuberi reportedly standing on his bunk bed near a chipped window.
The deputies detained the inmate, put him through the full-body scanner and relocated him to a cell with no exterior windows.
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When investigators searched the cell, they allegedly found an improvised tool suspected to have been used to damage the window.
Zuberi has been charged with second-degree attempted escape and first-degree disorderly conduct. The investigation into the matter is ongoing.
The suspect was in jail on a federal hold, as he awaits trial in October.
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This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Portland Field Office shows the interior of a makeshift cinderblock cell in Klamath Falls, Ore., allegedly used by Negasi Zuberi. The FBI said Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, that Zuberi, 29, who posed as an undercover police officer kidnapped a woman in Seattle, drove her hundreds of miles to his home in Oregon, and kept her in the cell from which she eventually escaped and found help. Zuberi who was arrested faces a federal interstate kidnapping charge, and authorities said they are looking for additional victims after linking him to sexual assaults in at least four more states. (FBI via AP) (FBI Portland)
Zuberi, a married father, was arrested in July after a woman escaped from a cinder block cell at his Klamath Falls home, where she told authorities Zuberi held her hostage and sexually assaulted her.
FBI Portland Assistant Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Shark said in a statement this month that the woman was “kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinder block cell.”
“Police say she beat the door with her hands until they were bloody in order to break free,” Shark said. “Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare.”
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Zuberi has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity.
He has a hearing scheduled for Sept. 25, and his trial date is set for Oct. 17.
Audrey Conklin of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
