Oregon Authorities Hunt Man Convicted in Las Vegas for Torturing Girlfriend Holding Her Captive

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (702 Times, NV Globe) –Less than two years after a man was convicted in Las Vegas of torturing and burning his girlfriend in her northwest valley apartment, officials in Oregon say they are looking for the same guy, who is suspected of gravely hurting another woman he kept prisoner.

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, is wanted by police in Salem, Oregon, on allegations of attempted murder, abduction, and assault.

Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said it’s “extremely troubling” that the criminal is wanted in an attempted murder rather than for his crimes in Las Vegas in 2019.

Foster tried to kill the woman in Grants Pass while “intentionally torturing” her and secretly confining her “in a place where she was not likely to be found,” Josephine County District Attorney Joshua Eastman wrote in a court document.

“We are laser-focused on capturing this man and bringing him to justice,” Hensman said at a Thursday news conference. “This is an all-hands-on-deck operation.”

Foster held his then-girlfriend imprisoned inside her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks in 2019, before traveling to Oregon. He was initially charged with five crimes, including assault and battery, and if convicted, he risked decades in jail. Foster, however, secured an agreement with Clark County prosecutors in August 2021 that permitted him to plead guilty to one felony count of battery and one misdemeanor count of battery involving domestic violence.

A Nevada court sentenced him to up to 2 1/2 years in jail. Foster was sentenced to fewer than 200 days in state detention after the 729 days he had spent in jail awaiting trial were deducted from his sentence.

According to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigation acquired by The Associated Press, Foster’s girlfriend suffered seven fractured ribs, two black eyes, and injuries from being shackled at the wrists and ankles with zip ties and duct tape during her two-week confinement.

The victim also said she was forced to take lye and suffocated to unconsciousness.

She escaped after Foster had let the woman out of his sight during a trip to the grocery store and a petrol station. According to the police complaint, the lady fled to a nearby apartment building and was discovered by a resident, who transported her to the hospital. Later that day, SWAT officers apprehended Foster.

Foster was out on a suspended jail term for carrying a concealed firearm without a permit at the time, according to court documents.

He was also awaiting trial in another domestic violence case from 2018. Foster’s plea agreement with prosecutors in 2021, however, ended the domestic violence case, according to a document of the agreement, and he was “sentenced to credit for time served.”

Police in Grants Pass, a town of some 40,000 in southwest Oregon, provided recent photos in a news release of Foster and the Nissan Sentra car he was driving. They said he is believed to be armed and is “considered extremely dangerous.”

“We are using every piece of technology available to locate this man,” said Hensman, the police chief. “And I’ll leave it at that.”

Police responded to a residence in Grants Pass’s residential area on Tuesday to investigate an assault, however Hensman would to say how the cops were notified.

When the cops arrived, they discovered a lady who had been chained and beaten senseless. According to authorities, she was rushed to a hospital in severe condition.

“This is a very serious event, a brutal assault of one of our residents that we take extremely seriously,” the police chief added. “And we will not rest until we capture this individual.”

Credits: 8 News Now