A man has been sentenced to life in jail after he was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women in two separate instances. Grim Negasi Zuberi will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison in the US after a jury in Medford, Oregon convicted him in October of charges of kidnapping, transportation for criminal sexual activity, being a felon in possession of a weapon and attempting to break out of jail when Zuberi tried to smash through his jail cell window in August 2023.
“This is not a man who deserves to be around others… He shows blatant disregard and lack of care for human life," a brave victim said at the hearing. Before Zuberi was sentenced, assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Sweet said: “Negasi Zuberi is a serial predator who committed acts of evil. He hunted women.”.
Authorities said Zuberi had solicited a woman to engage in prostitution in Seattle. He told her he was an undercover officer and, after showing a badge, pointed his taser at her. The woman was then cuffed, put in the back of his vehicle and driven hundreds of miles to his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The woman was locked in a cinderblock cell in his garage, the FBI said. She escaped by hitting the cell door until it burst open.
In a news release in August, Stephanie Shark, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Portland field office, said: “Police say she beat the door with her hands until they were bloody in order to break free. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare.”.
