Accused U.S. Fugitive Extradited from Scotland and Jailed in Utah

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

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The accused, previously known as Nicholas Alahverdian, is facing charges of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008. Prosecutors in Utah were only able to identify him as a suspect a decade later due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.

In addition to the aforementioned charge, Rossi is also facing a felony rape charge in Salt Lake County. Prosecutors claim that he sexually assaulted a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument in 2008. Furthermore, he has multiple complaints against him in Rhode Island and Ohio, including allegations of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and fraud.

The 36-year-old fugitive, who has used at least 10 aliases in his attempt to evade capture, was booked into the Davis County Jail on Friday. The facility primarily houses federal detainees in northern Utah. However, he is expected to be transferred to Utah County in the upcoming days to face trial for the felony rape charges, as stated by the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

As of Monday, Rossi’s initial court date has not been scheduled, and it remains unknown who will be representing him in court.

Born and raised in foster homes in Rhode Island, the American fugitive returned to the state before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country. An obituary published online falsely claimed Rossi had passed away on February 29, 2020, due to late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, doubts about his demise were raised by both state police and his former foster family.

The fugitive was apprehended in Scotland the following year after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital, where he was receiving treatment for COVID-19. Rossi vehemently insisted that he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight and had never traveled to the United States.

After a protracted legal battle, an Edinburgh judge ruled in August that the extradition could proceed. The judge described Rossi as “dishonest, deceitful, evasive, and manipulative.” In December, Rossi lost his appeal, and the U.S. Marshals Service took him into custody.