The Klamath Falls man accused of kidnapping a Seattle woman, sexually assaulting her and locking her in a makeshift cell in his garage pleaded not guilty Monday after authorities returned him to Oregon from Nevada to face charges.
Negasi Zuberi, 29, appeared in federal court in Medford and entered not guilty pleas to a two-count indictment charging him with interstate kidnapping and transporting a woman with intent to engage in sexual activity.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke ordered Zuberi to remain in custody pending trial. Zuberi is being held at the Jackson County Jail.
Zuberi was arrested in Reno on July 16, a day after the alleged kidnapping. He is accused of abducting the woman from Seattle posing as an undercover police officer, driving her 450 miles to Klamath Falls, sexually assaulting her on the trip and then locking her in a cell in the garage of his rental home in Klamath Falls, according to the FBI.
The woman escaped after a couple of hours in the cell, ripping apart a metal screen door on the cell, sneaking out of a small space in the screen, running from the home and flagging down a motorist for help, according to the FBI and Klamath Falls police.
Investigators tracked Zuberi’s cellphone, which helped Nevada state patrol officers locate Zuberi in a Walmart parking lot with his wife and one of his children, according to a federal affidavit. He was taken into custody after a 45-minute standoff, the FBI said.
A jury trial has been tentatively set for Oct. 17 before U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane. Zuberi has been appointed two assistant federal public defenders, Devin Huseby and Clais Daniels-Edwards.
The home Zuberi rented was owned by Klamath Falls Mayor Carol Westfall and her husband Kevin Westfall. Zuberi lived in the home with his two young sons, now 4 and 6, and their mother, and two other housemates, according to a neighbor.
Zuberi has lived in 10 states over the last 10 years, and FBI investigators said they suspect there could be other alleged sexual assault victims. In addition to Oregon, he has lived in California, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Nevada since August 2016.
Alycia Westfall, the mother of Zuberi’s children, had petitioned a court in California for a temporary restraining order against Zuberi in July 2020 when living in Antioch, according to court records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. At that time, Zuberi went by a different name, Justin James Kouassi, and their two sons were ages 2 and 4, according to the Contra Costa County Superior Court records.
She alleged that he was physically, mentally, financially and verbally abusive to her and their sons.
She wrote in her petition that he broke the windows of her apartment, threatened to kill her and their sons and take the children from her. She said he broke glass, the television and a bottle in front of their boys. She said he had beaten her several times and ran when she called the police, according to the petition.
“He has hit me many times,” she wrote, adding that she has bruises from his beating. “He takes my phone so I can’t call the cops. He takes my money so I can’t have any way to do anything, transfers my money to his own account.”
Westfall got the temporary restraining order in July 2020. A hearing was set for September 2020 to extend the temporary restraining order into a longer-term order, but there’s no record a hearing was held.
In October 2020, Zuberi went to court to change his name from Justin Kouassi to Negasi Zuberi. He wrote that he was born in Vallejo, California, and “always went by Negasi,” and wanted it to be official. He also sought to change Westfall’s name to Zuberi at that time, records show. Westfall, however, has maintained her own name. She is not related to the Klamath Falls mayor.
