Utah
Utah Rape Suspect Who Allegedly Faked Death Will Be Extradited From Scotland
Topline
The Utah man who allegedly faked his own death and posed as an Irish orphan to escape a rape charge will be extradited from Scotland to the United States, a Scottish politician ordered, after a prolonged court battle meant to prevent his return.
Nicholas Rossi leaves Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his extradition hearing, Rossi has been fighting … [+]
Key Facts
Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance last week signed the extradition order for Nicholas Rossi, who has also gone by the names Nicholas Alahverdian and Aurther Knight, among others, while on the run, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
Rossi, who allegedly faked his death in Rhode Island while going by the name Nicholas Alahverdian, first traveled from the U.S. to Ireland or Britain back in 2017 to escape his charges, according to the New York Times, but wasn’t arrested until 2021 when he sought treatment for Covid-19 at a hospital in Glasgow, insisting he was an Irish orphan.
Scottish Sheriff Norman McFadyen last November ruled that he was indeed convicted sex offender Nicholas Rossi based on identifying tattoos and fingerprints, but Alahverdian continued to insist it was a case of mistaken identity and claimed he’d been tattooed while unconscious in the hospital and had his fingerprints sent to U.S. authorities in an attempt to frame him.
He appeared in extradition court in June in a wheelchair using an oxygen mask and speaking in a British accent, and his extradition ruling describes him as “dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.”
Key Background
Rossi has been registered as a sex offender since he was convicted of sexual imposition and public indecency in Ohio in 2008. Last year, he was charged with rape in Salt Lake County, Utah, over a 2008 incident, and he is a suspect in a sexual assault case in Utah County, as well as being involved in cases of assault, harassment and possible kidnapping in three other states, according to the Times. Investigators say Rossi had a habit of meeting women in public, taking them to a private place and touching them inappropriately, then threatening to kill himself or forcing him on them if they objected. In December 2019 he told media he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and weeks to live, and several news outlets in Rhode Island reported he died in 2020, according to the BBC. He was found at the Glasgow hospital after his named popped up as the subject of an Interpol notice, and he’s also wanted for questioning in Essex, England, in connection with a 2017 rape. Rossi’s attorneys argued he was mentally unfit to be extradited, but three medical witnesses said he showed no signs of mental illness. A Scottish court first ruled he could be extradited in August.
Tangent
Rossi appeared on NBC’s Dateline alongside his wife in April to detail his ostensible case of mistaken identity. “I am not Nicholas Alahverdian,” he told Dateline through tears the day after he missed one of his extradition hearings due to an “altercation” in his jail cell. In a widely viewed video from the interview, he tries to stand with the help of his wife and flails around before being reseated in an attempt to prove he could not stand, breathe or walk.
Further Reading
Nicholas Rossi to be extradited to US on rape charges (BBC)
Extradition: Whose Rights Are Really At Stake? (Forbes)
China Property Billionaire Faces Extradition For Alleged Bribery In U.S — Reports (Forbes)