A 30-year-old man was found guilty of kidnapping two women, sexually abusing them, and confining one of them in a constructed “dungeon.”
A federal jury found Negasi Zuberi, also known as Justin Joshua Hyche, guilty of abduction, transporting a victim for criminal sexual behavior, and unlawfully having a pistol and ammunition as a convicted felon, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon on October 18. Zuberi’s conviction for kidnapping alone could land him in federal prison for up to life.
The Klamath Falls Police Department posted an FBI news release stating that on July 15, 2023, detectives went to Sky Lakes Medical Center to talk to a rape victim who was a prostitute in Seattle. According to reports, she told authorities that Zuberi, a client she met, pretended to be a police officer.
Zuberi allegedly put her in leg irons and handcuffs after telling her she was under arrest. He detained the victim and drove her from Seattle to his Klamath Falls, Oregon, home after using a Taser, according to the prosecution. Zuberi allegedly stopped to sexually attack her along the way.
After arriving at his house, Zuberi allegedly took the victim to a tiny, soundproof room he had constructed in his garage. According to authorities, the chamber featured an exterior door and a security screen, making it hard to escape.
The woman “repeatedly banged on the cell door until it broke open, and she escaped,” federal authorities said. She screamed for assistance, grabbed a pistol from Zuberi’s vehicle, and a driver contacted the police.
After a brief confrontation, Zuberi was apprehended by Reno Police and Nevada State Patrol officers the next day after they discovered him in a Reno parking lot.
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Federal investigators discovered during the course of the inquiry that Zuberi had abducted and sexually assaulted another victim on May 6, 2023.
While being detained, the first victim allegedly noticed the heaped cinder blocks in Zuberi’s garage. Later, Zuberi constructed the cell in which he held the second victim using those blocks.
