Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said in a telephone interview. That he finds it “extremely troubling.” That Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36. Is wanted for attempted murder instead of still behind bars for the Nevada crime.
Salem, Ore. — Police in southern Oregon were searching Thursday. For a man they accused of torturing a woman. He held captive, less than two years.
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said in a telephone interview. That he finds it “extremely troubling.” That Nevada is looking for a man for attempted murder instead of still behind bars for the crime.
Kidnapping and assault in Oregon. Josephine County District Attorney Joshua Eastman wrote in court documents. That Foster attempted to kill the victim in Grants Pass while. “Deliberately torturing” her. And secretly holding her “in a place where she was unlikely to be found.” “We are laser focused on capturing this man. And bringing him to justice,” Hensman said at a news conference Thursday. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck operation.”
In 2019, before moving to Oregon. Foster held his then-girlfriend captive in his Las Vegas apartment for two weeks. But in August 2021, Foster reached an agreement with Clark County prosecutors. That allowed him to plead guilty to one felony count of battery. And one misdemeanor count of battery constituting domestic violence. A judge sentenced him to up to 2 1/2 years in a Nevada prison but after the 729 days he spent in prison awaiting trial. Foster was released to serve less than 200 extra days in state custody.
According to a Las Vegas police report obtained by The Associated Press. Foster’s girlfriend suffered seven broken ribs. Two black eyes and bruises from being bound. At the wrists and ankles with zip ties and duct tape during her two-week captivity.
She fled with Foster to a grocery store and a gas station, after Foster let the woman out of his sight. According to the police report, the woman ran to a nearby apartment complex. And found a resident who rushed her to the hospital. SWAT officers arrested Foster later that day.
At the time, court records show, Foster was out of custody on a suspended prison. Sentence for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
He was also awaiting trial in another 2018 case involving domestic violence. But Foster’s plea deal with prosecutors in 2021. Settled the domestic violence case, a copy of the agreement showed.
Police in Grants Pass, a city of about 40,000 in southwestern Oregon. Provided recent photos in a news release of Foster and the Nissan Sentra he was driving.
“We’re using every technology available to find this guy,” Police Chief Hensman said. “And I’ll leave it at that.”
On Tuesday, police went to a home in a residential. Neighborhood in Grants Pass to investigate an assault.
“This is a very serious incident, a brutal attack. On one of our residents that we take very seriously,” the police chief added. “And we will not rest until we apprehend this person.”
Hensman said he didn’t have time now to explore. How authorities in Nevada handled Foster’s crimes there.
“Everything that has happened in the past,” he said, “we can talk about those situations later.“
