Man Extradited from Scotland to Face Rape Charges Appears in Utah Court

A man who had been fighting extradition from Scotland to the United States for two years has finally appeared in a Utah court, where he faces charges of rape. Nicholas Rossi, 36, was sent back to the US last month after his claims of mistaken identity were rejected by Scottish judges.

During the court hearing, Mr. Rossi, who continues to claim he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, appeared before Utah’s Fourth District Court through a prison video link.

Previously, Mr. Rossi had refused to attend two hearings at separate courts in Utah regarding the rape charges. However, he was warned last month that he could be compelled to attend.

On Tuesday, Judge Derek Pullan formally charged Mr. Rossi with rape, a first-degree felony alleged to have occurred in September 2008 in Utah County. A separate charge of sexual battery was dismissed. The court scheduled another hearing in the case for next month.

Additionally, Mr. Rossi is facing another allegation of rape in Salt Lake County.

Rossi’s arrest took place in December 2021 under an international arrest warrant after he was admitted to a hospital in Glasgow with Covid. He had claimed to be a victim of mistaken identity, maintaining that his name was Arthur Knight. However, in November 2022, a sheriff in Edinburgh ruled that the man was indeed Nicholas Rossi after matching his tattoos and fingerprints.

Mr. Rossi’s final appeal against extradition was unsuccessful on December 14 last year.

According to prosecutors in Utah, Mr. Rossi is charged with raping a 21-year-old woman in 2008. His identification as a suspect was delayed for about a decade due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the state’s crime lab.

During a previous hearing, Mr. Rossi vehemently denied being Nicholas Rossi and insisted that his name was Arthur Knight Brown.