A man accused of locking a woman in a homemade cell had a handwritten plan and sketch, FBI says

1 of 11 |

Authorities say a man 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 makeshift cell from which she eventually escaped and found help. (Aug. 2)

2 of 11 |

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)

3 of 11 |

This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Portland Field Office shows a makeshift cinderblock cell in Klamath Falls, Ore. allegedly used by 29-year-old, Negasi Zuberi. Authorities say Zuberi 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 a makeshift cell from which she eventually escaped and found help. The FBI said Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, that police in Reno, Nevada, arrested Zuberi after he fled from his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he had taken the Seattle woman. (FBI via AP)

4 of 11 |

This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Portland Field Office shows the most recent photo of 29-year-old, Negasi Zuberi. Authorities say Zuberi 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 a makeshift cell from which she eventually escaped and found help. The FBI said Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, that police in Reno, Nevada, arrested Zuberi after he fled from his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he had taken the Seattle woman. (FBI via AP)

5 of 11 |

Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds speaks at a press conference at the FBI Portland field office in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, accompanied by John Casolino, senior assistant attorney general of the Criminal Justice Division of the Oregon Department of Justice, left, and Stephanie Shark, assistant special agent in charge with the FBI. The press conference was held to discuss the case of an Oregon man facing a federal interstate kidnapping charge after he posed as an undercover police officer to kidnap a woman in Seattle, drove her hundreds of miles to his home in Oregon and locked her in the cinderblock cell until she bloodied her hands breaking the door to escape. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)

6 of 11 |

An FBI flag and a seeking information posterboard are set up next to a podium ahead of a press conference at the FBI field office in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. The posterboard displays photos of Negasi Zuberi, an Oregon man facing a federal charge of interstate kidnapping, and photos of the makeshift cinderblock cell in the garage of his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where he allegedly held a woman that he is accused of kidnapping from Seattle. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)

7 of 11 |

Stephanie Shark, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Portland field office, speaks at a press conference in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, accompanied by John Casolino, left, senior assistant attorney general of the Criminal Justice Division of the Oregon Department of Justice, Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds, second from left, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Lichvarcik, right. The press conference was held to discuss the case of an Oregon man facing a federal interstate kidnapping charge after he posed as an undercover police officer to kidnap a woman in Seattle, drove her hundreds of miles to his home in Oregon and locked her in the cinderblock cell until she bloodied her hands breaking the door to escape. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)

8 of 11 |

9 of 11 |

This undated photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Portland Field Office shows Negasi Zuberi. Authorities say Zuberi 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 a makeshift cell from which she eventually escaped and found help. The FBI said Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, that police in Reno, Nevada, arrested Zuberi after he fled from his home in Klamath Falls, Ore., where he had taken the Seattle woman. (FBI via AP)

10 of 11 |

11 of 11 |

In this photo released by the Washoe County Detention Facility is Negasi Zuberi in Reno, Nev., on July 16, 2023, 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 in other sexual assaults. 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 via AP)

By GENE JOHNSON and ANDREW SELSKY

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — He called it “Operation Take Over,” with a list that included a chilling reminder to go after women who wouldn’t be missed to avoid “any kind of an investigation,” according to the FBI.

Accompanying the bullet-point notes was a sketch of an apparent dungeon, to be built with cinder blocks, foam insulation and waterproof concrete.

Police found the legal pad with the notes in the southern Oregon home of a man who is now a suspect in sexual assaults around the country. Also in the home: a cinder block cell where police say the man, Negasi Zuberi, held a woman he had allegedly kidnapped in Seattle until she escaped by pounding at the door with bloodied hands.

Court and police records show Zuberi, 29, had been on law enforcement’s radar before — for alleged offenses such as assaulting the mother of their children, punching someone in the face and being a bad tenant whose landlord sought to evict him.

The FBI set up a website asking possible victims to come forward. The site says the FBI’s investigation has extended to states where Zuberi, who used several aliases, including Sakima, previously resided since August 2016. Those states could include California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Nevada, the site says.

“Sakima has several different methods to gain control of his victims, including drugging their drinks, pretending to be a police officer, and soliciting the services of sex workers and then violently sexually assaulting them,” the FBI said on the website. “Some of the encounters may have been filmed to make it appear as if the assault was consensual.”

In the Seattle kidnapping on July 15, Zuberi solicited a woman for prostitution in an area known for sex work and afterward posed as an undercover police officer, the FBI said Wednesday. He handcuffed her, put her in leg irons and drove to Klamath Falls, Oregon, stopping to rape her on the way, according to court documents. After the woman escaped, Zuberi fled but was arrested by state police in Reno, Nevada, the next afternoon, the FBI said.

Zuberi is married and has at least one child, but the FBI did not say whether they were living in the Klamath Falls home and declined to answer questions about them.

Zuberi did not follow item No. 1 in the “Operation Take Over” plan that police found in the house — a reminder to leave his phone at home, authorities say. FBI Special Agent Travis Gluesenkamp said in an affidavit that GPS location data from Zuberi’s cellphone showed he was in Seattle on July 15. Both his phone and the woman’s phone also traveled from Seattle to Klamath Falls that day, Gluesenkamp said.

Zuberi 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 case has rattled Klamath Falls, a town of 22,000 residents that is close to the California border and known for bird watching, golfing and fishing.

“I think a lot of people are shocked that something like this happened in our community,” Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds, who is working on the case, said Thursday.

Reynolds said authorities “have reason to believe that there’s prior victims from several states,” but would not disclose details, citing the ongoing investigation.

Since authorities announced the case against Zuberi in a news conference in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday, some proceedings against him have emerged in court and municipal records.

In 2020, he was accused of attacking and threatening to kill a woman and the children she shares with him, NBC News reported. The woman’s petition seeking a restraining order against Justin Kouassi, one of his known aliases, was filed that year in Contra Costa County, California.

“He physically attacks me, he hits me, he brakes and throws things, he screams at the kids and me,” the woman wrote. “We get woken up every night from him being drunk and loud and scares us.”

It’s unclear whether the restraining order was issued.

Zuberi recently 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.”

According to court records in Colorado, 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. There is still an active warrant out for him.

Heather Fraley, a lawyer with the federal public defender’s office in Las Vegas who was listed as Zuberi’s attorney, declined to comment Wednesday. Zuberi’s public defender in Oregon, Devin Huseby, on Thursday also declined to comment.

Transferring Zuberi from Nevada 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.

After arriving in Klamath Falls on July 15, Zuberi put the woman in the makeshift cell in the garage and said he was leaving to do paperwork, according to the criminal complaint.

The woman “briefly slept and awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape,” the complaint says.

She managed to break some of the door’s welded joints, creating a small opening that she climbed through, Reynolds said.

After the woman escaped and flagged down a passing motorist, police came to the house and found the handwritten notes, with plans for an apparent dungeon buried 100 feet (30 meters) below ground.

___

Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert in Denver, Colorado; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

ANDREW SELSKY

Writing a short bio for the author of the article