Current:Home > MyUS fugitive accused of faking his death to avoid rape charges is booked into a Utah jail -MarketStream
US fugitive accused of faking his death to avoid rape charges is booked into a Utah jail
View
Date:2025-04-27 19:03:30
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A U.S. fugitive known as Nicholas Rossi, who is accused of faking his own death and fleeing the country to avoid rape charges, is in a Utah jail after he was extradited from Scotland last week, jail records showed on Monday.
Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is charged with sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008, according to local prosecutors. He was not identified as a suspect until about a decade later, due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.
Rossi faces another felony rape charge in Salt Lake County, where prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument, also in 2008. He faces multiple other complaints against him in Rhode Island and Ohio for alleged domestic violence, sexual abuse and fraud.
The 36-year-old, who has used at least 10 aliases in his run from the law, was booked Friday afternoon into the Davis County Jail, which houses many federal detainees in northern Utah. He will likely be transferred to Utah County in the coming days, where he will stand trial for felony rape charges, according to the Utah County Attorney’s Office.
His initial court date had not been set as of Monday and records did not yet indicate who will represent him in court.
The American fugitive grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country. An obituary published online claimed Rossi died Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But state police and his former foster family questioned whether he was really dead.
Rossi was arrested in Scotland the following year after he was recognized at a Glasgow hospital while receiving treatment for COVID-19. He insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never traveled to the U.S.
After a lengthy court battle, an Edinburgh judge ruled in August that the extradition could move forward. He called Rossi “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.” Rossi lost an appeal in December and was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
veryGood! (366)
Related
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Acid poured on slides at Massachusetts playground; children suffer burns
- Travis Barker's Kids Send Love to Stepmom Kourtney Kardashian on Mother's Day
- Conspiracy theorists hounded Grant Wahl's family when he died. Now they're back
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Tulsi Gabbard on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands
- Here's How North West and Kim Kardashian Supported Tristan Thompson at a Lakers Game
- China's COVID surge prompts CDC to expand a hunt for new variants among air travelers
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Time is fleeting. Here's how to stay on track with New Year's goals
Ranking
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- U.S. extends temporary legal status for over 300,000 immigrants that Trump sought to end
- Researchers Develop Cerium Reactor to Make Fuel from Sunlight
- It’s Not Just Dakota Access. Many Other Fossil Fuel Projects Delayed or Canceled, Too
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Mall operator abandons San Francisco amid retail exodus from city
- Seattle's schools are suing tech giants for harming young people's mental health
- Ultra rare and endangered sperm whale pod spotted off California coast in once a year opportunity
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
An Ambitious Global Effort to Cut Shipping Emissions Stalls
The FDA finalizes rule expanding the availability of abortion pills
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp warns GOP not to get bogged down in Trump indictment
Sam Taylor
Chrissy Teigen Says Children Luna and Miles Are Thriving as Big Siblings to Baby Esti
Trump ready to tell his side of story as he's arraigned in documents case, says spokesperson Alina Habba
California’s Wildfire and Climate Change Warnings Are Still Too Conservative, Scientist Says