American man who faked his death and fled to US to avoid rape charges found guilty in Utah court
A US man who faked his own death and fled to the UK to escape rape charges had been found guilty at a Utah court.
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Nicholas Rossi, 38, was accused of assaulting two women in the US state in 2008.
He denied both charges but was found guilty yesterday after declining to testify on his own behalf.
Rossi faked his death in 2020 and was extradited from Scotland to the US in January 2024 after a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.
He came to the attention of authorities when he was identified at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in December 2021 while being treated for Covid-19 under the name Arthur Knight.
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During his three-day trial at Salt Lake County court, both his accuser and her parents testified.
His accuser said he pinned her to the ground and "forced me to have sex with him."
Speaking to the court, the accuser said she began her relationship with Rossi as she was recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2008.
They met when Rossi placed an ad on Craigslist, the pair were engaged within two weeks of meeting.
As their relationship developed, however, Rossi became “controlling” and started “saying mean things.”
At one point, Rossi banged on her car, using his body to block her from driving away.
Upon returning home, she was pushed onto her bed and raped, she told the court.
The victim identified him from the witness box, saying he is "a little bit heavier, a little bit older", but mostly looks the same.
Nicholas Rossi, who claimed his name was ‘Arthur Knight’ in an effort to avoid being extradited to the US, appeared in court under his legal name, Nicholas Alahverdian, seated in a wheelchair and with an oxygen tube in his nostril as proceedings began.
He was arrested after being identified by his distinctive tattoos as a person the US authorities wanted to extradite, but claimed this was a case of mistaken identity.
Months of court proceedings in Edinburgh followed but in November 2022, Sheriff Norman McFadyen determined the man claiming to be Knight was indeed Rossi.
An extradition hearing took place in June 2023, with Sheriff McFadyen ruling there was no barrier to Rossi's extradition.