Accident – Death – Obituary News :

U.S. Fugitive Accused of Faking Death Extradited from Scotland, Now in Utah Jail

SALT LAKE CITY — Nicholas Rossi, a U.S. fugitive who allegedly faked his own death and fled the country to avoid rape charges, has been extradited from Scotland and is now in a Utah jail, according to jail records released on Monday.

Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is facing charges of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, back in 2008. However, he was not identified as a suspect until a decade later due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.

Apart from the Orem case, Rossi is also facing a felony rape charge in Salt Lake County for allegedly assaulting a 26-year-old former girlfriend in 2008 following an argument. Furthermore, he is facing multiple other complaints in Rhode Island and Ohio, including allegations of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and fraud.

According to a news report, an Ohio woman claimed that Alahverdian sexually assaulted her on the campus of a community college in 2008, shortly after they met.

The FBI in Ohio has also sought Rossi on charges of fraudulently obtaining credit cards in his foster father’s name, accumulating debts of approximately $200,000.

The 36-year-old fugitive, who has used multiple aliases, was booked into the Davis County Jail in Utah after being extradited from Scotland. He is expected to be transferred to Utah County in the coming days to face trial for the felony rape charges.

As of now, Rossi’s initial court date has not been set, and it remains unknown who will represent him in court.

Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country. An obituary published online claimed that he had died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma on February 29, 2020. However, his death was questioned by state police and his former foster family.

Rossi was arrested in Scotland in the following year after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital while receiving treatment for COVID-19. He initially claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never traveled to the U.S.

Following a lengthy court battle, an Edinburgh judge ruled in August that the extradition could proceed, describing Rossi as “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.” Rossi lost an appeal in December and was subsequently taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.

This news article was contributed to by The Providence Journal.

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