The Utah County prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that an elusive U.S. fugitive accused of faking his own death and traveling the globe to avoid rape charges has been extradited to Utah from Scotland. The man known in the U.S. as Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is charged with sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, in 2008, according to local prosecutors. He also faces multiple complaints against him in Rhode Island for alleged domestic violence. Utah County prosecutor David Leavitt said that Mr. Rossi, 36, was being extradited and will stand trial for felony rape charges.
The prosecutor’s office expressed gratitude to its staff for working with U.S. and international authorities to identify Mr. Rossi and bring him to justice more than a decade after his alleged crimes. When asked about Mr. Rossi’s return, Police Scotland confirmed it assisted in extraditing a 36-year-old man. Mr. Rossi was arrested in December 2021 at a Glasgow hospital, where he was being treated for COVID-19. Despite insisting he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, he was identified and taken into custody. After a court battle, Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled in August that the extradition could proceed, describing Mr. Rossi as “dishonest and deceitful.”
Prosecutors uncovered at least 10 aliases Mr. Rossi used to evade capture and presented medical reports from doctors involved in his care. Some described how he appeared to have faked seizures, while others stated that he did not have any ongoing lung problems. Despite his claims of mistaken identity being dismissed as “implausible” and “fanciful,” Mr. Rossi lost an appeal in December. He had also made a name for himself in Rhode Island as a vocal critic of the state’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families. About a year after his purported death, authorities questioned whether he was actually deceased. He is wanted in Rhode Island for failing to register as a sex offender and faces fraud charges in Ohio.
Additionally, police in England are investigating and seeking to interview Mr. Rossi regarding a rape allegation in Chelmsford. As of now, he faces extradition to stand trial for the felony rape charges in Utah.