Oregon: Torturer Who Holds and Beats Woman Uses Dating Apps While on the Run
Authorities said on Friday that a torturer accused of assaulting a captive woman in Oregon and convicted in Nevada for holding another captive woman is using dating apps to identify people who can help him evade the law or recruit new victims.
After a woman was discovered bound and unconscious in Grants Pass, Oregon, on Tuesday, authorities have been searching nonstop for 36-year-old Benjamin Obadiah Foster. As a result, she was sent to the hospital in a dire state.
Foster's vehicle was seized, and a 68-year-old woman was arrested for obstructing justice after a raid Thursday night by Grants Pass police, sheriff's deputies, an Oregon State Police SWAT team, and federal agents in the unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, located about 20 miles north of Grants Pass.
However, Foster got away from them. Authorities had no more information, but the location is heavily wooded and mountainous near Interstate 5, according to NBC News.
According to court filings, Tina Marie Jones, the woman detained on Thursday, had followed Foster in a separate car as he drove to a rural site near Wolf Creek and then deliberately drove his 2008 Nissan Sentra over an embankment.
According to documents filed in Josephine County Circuit Court, Foster was hiding on a property raided Thursday night, and Jones drove him there.
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Oregon Authorities Offer $2500 Reward for the Torturer's Information
Oregon authorities have requested the public to call 911 immediately if they see Foster, saying he "should be considered extremely dangerous."
Meanwhile, $2,500 has been allotted for information that helps in capturing the torturer. The police want him for questioning in connection with kidnapping, attempted murder, and assault charges.
Court documents acquired by CNN affiliate KDRV allege that Foster tried to kill the victim "in the course of intentionally torturing" the woman.
"This is a very serious offense - a brutal assault on one of our residents that we take extremely serious, and we will not rest until we capture this individual," Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said in a news conference Thursday.
Benjamin Obadiah Foster Case
Foster held his then-girlfriend hostage in her Las Vegas residence for two weeks in 2019 before they moved to Oregon.
Assault and battery were among the five charges initially brought against him, and a conviction would have resulted in a lengthy jail sentence.
Nonetheless, Foster struck a plea deal with prosecutors in Clark County in August 2021, admitting guilt on one felony count of battery and one misdemeanor count of battery involving domestic violence.
The judge gave him a possible two and a half years in a Nevada prison, AP noted.
After considering the 729 days he had already spent in jail while awaiting trial, Foster was given a sentence of fewer than 200 days in state custody.
A Las Vegas police report states that 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 Foster's two-week detention.
The victim also reported being choked unconscious and forced to eat lye by her captors.
During a trip to the supermarket and petrol station, Foster let her out of his sight, and she escaped.
According to the court documents, Foster was free because his sentence for illegally carrying a concealed firearm had been suspended.
Another 2018 domestic violence case in which he was charged was still pending.
Foster, however, was "sentenced to credit for time served" after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors in 2021 on the domestic abuse case.
Grants Pass, Oregon, is home to about 40,000 people, and the police have labeled Benjamin Obadiah Foster as "extremely dangerous" and believed to be armed.
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Written by: Bert Hoover
WATCH: Oregon authorities hunt man convicted in Las Vegas for torturing girlfriend, holding her captive - From 8 News NOW Las Vegas