Oregon man accused of holding woman captive in makeshift cell appeared on ‘Judge Judy’ with children’s mother

A man who officials say kidnapped and held a woman captive in a makeshift cell in his Oregon garage appeared in a 2018 episode of “Judge Judy” with the mother of his two children.

Negasi Zuberi — a 29-year-old who goes by the aliases “Sakima,” “Justin Hyche” and “Justin Kouassi” — was arrested July 16 after the woman escaped and was able to flag down help. He was charged with one count of interstate kidnapping.

Zuberi has been linked to four violent sexual assaults in at least four states, officials said, without detailing the locations.

In the episode, which is circulating on Facebook, 29-year-old Negasi Zuberi went by the alias, Justin Hyche.

He claimed that his ex-fiancée had assaulted him with a glass bottle at his apartment in June 2018 and also destroyed property at his home days later.

Zuberi and the woman had moved together from California to New York after the birth of their son but no longer lived together, they said. Their son was 21 months old.

NBC News is not identifying the woman or her children, who may be victims of abuse. 

Zuberi submitted footage from the initial incident that Judge Judy watched in court.

In the footage, the woman can be heard telling Zuberi not to take their child out into the cold. She asks someone nearby to call the police and alleges that Zuberi is drunk.

It appears that the woman and Zuberi have some physical exchanges before he walks outside. A glass bottle is then heard shattering on the sidewalk.

Zuberi told the judge that he filed a police report against the woman but was arrested instead. He spent about two days in jail.

“They completely went on her side, they assumed that I assaulted her and they didn’t believe anything I said,” Zuberi told the judge.

The woman said she’d arrived at Zuberi’s home that day around 11 p.m. to pick their son up but he didn’t let her take him. She claims she didn’t throw the glass bottle at Zuberi.

Judge Judy took Zuberi’s side, telling the woman she should’ve arrived at 6 p.m., the earlier agreed upon time, to pick up their son.

The woman said she was pregnant at the time of the incident and claimed Zuberi put his hands on her and that she called an ambulance following the exchange to get her blood pressure checked.

Judge Judy, whose full name is Judy Sheindlin, didn’t believe her and asked for a medical report proving she was injured.

“Who cares about your blood pressure,” Judge Judy asked.

The judge asks Zuberi if the baby the woman is pregnant with is his, to which he responded “there could be a possibility.”

The woman denied attacking Zuberi and destroying his property and counter sued for her phone, which she said her ex-fiancé broke after getting out of jail.

Judge Judy dismissed the counter claim and ruled in favor of Zuberi, ordering the woman to pay him $2,500 for destroying his property.

“I would’ve awarded you money for false arrest because I don’t think that there was any basis for you to be arrested other than the police in New York sometimes are scared not to make an arrest if there’s a call for domestic violence,” Judy told Zuberi.

Authorities in July homed in on Zuberi one day after he traveled from his Klamath Falls, Oregon, home to Seattle, Washington, where he solicited a prostitute and kidnapped her, the FBI’s Portland Field Office said.

He posed as an undercover police officer, flashing a badge, pointing a Taser, and placing the woman in handcuffs, before putting her into the back seat of his car, according to the criminal complaint.

Once at his home, he put her into a makeshift cell he constructed in his garage of cinder blocks with a metal door that couldn’t be opened from the inside, officials said. 

The woman managed to escape and the Klamath Falls Police Department obtained a search warrant for Zuberi’s home and found the cell as the victim described. 

Zuberi fled and he was ultimately found in Reno, Nevada, on July 16, with his family.

He was in a car, holding one of his children in the front seat, speaking with a woman who was outside the car in a Walmart parking lot when officials located him last month. It’s not clear at this time if this woman he was with is the same one from the “Judge Judy” episode.

After a 45-minute standoff, he was taken into custody.

Zuberi is also accused of allegedly attacking, abusing and threatening to kill a woman and their two children before she sought a protective order against him three years ago.

The woman who filed the protective order is the same woman who appeared on “Judge Judy” with Zuberi.

Zuberi’s lawyer in Oregon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.