Klamath Falls man in jail for allegedly holding woman captive in makeshift dungeon caught trying to escape cell

By Melissa Alonso, CNN

(CNN) — The Oregon man arrested for allegedly holding a woman captive in a makeshift cinder block dungeon was caught trying to escape jail, officials said.

Negasi Zuberi, 29, has been in federal custody since his arrest this month and is now charged with second-degree attempted escape and first-degree disorderly conduct, CNN has reported.

Zuberi was arrested after a woman escaped from his Klamath Falls home last month, according to a news release from the FBI field office in Portland. The woman was kidnapped from Seattle and sexually assaulted before being placed in a “makeshift cell” in Zuberi’s garage, investigators said.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity, court documents show.

He was being held at the Jackson County Jail in Medford, Oregon, when according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, at around “12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, a Jackson County maintenance worker outside the building notified deputies that a suspicious noise was coming from inside one of the cells. Deputies responded to investigate and discovered Zuberi standing on his bunk bed near a chipped window in his cell.”

Deputies found an improvised tool he was using, and he was sent to a cell with no exterior windows, the release said.

Zuberi’s trail for his federal charges is scheduled to begin on October 17.

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