Rape suspect who 'faked own death to avoid jail' is extradited to US
Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi who faked his own death to avoid jail is to be extradited to the US.
The order followed a long-running extradition battle in which Rossi was ruled to be a man wanted by authorities in Utah for the alleged rape of a woman in 2008. The wanted man known in Scotland as Nicholas Rossi has fought his return since being arrested in December 2021 at a Glasgow hospital, where he was being treated for COVID-19.
He repeatedly appeared in court — and in several television interviews — in a wheelchair using an oxygen mask and speaking in a British accent. He insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil. But Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court had previously dismissed the fugitive’s claims of mistaken identity as “implausible” and “fanciful” after the man said he had been framed by authorities who tattooed him and surreptitiously took his fingerprints while he was in a coma so they could connect him to Rossi.
READ MORE: Personality disorder should not hinder rape suspect Nicholas Rossi's extradition
“I conclude that he is as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative,” McFadyen said. “These unfortunate facets of his character have undoubtedly complicated and extended what is ultimately a straightforward case.”
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Rossi giving a press conference in Edinburgh after a preliminary hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff And Justice Of The Peace Court (PA)Today a A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "We assisted partner agencies with the extradition of a 36-year-old man". McFadyen said Rossi had presented unreliable evidence and he was not “prepared to accept any statement of fact made by him unless it was independently supported.” Scottish government ministers will review McFadyen’s ruling to determine whether to issue an extradition order.
U.S. authorities said Rossi is one of several aliases the 36-year-old has used and that his legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, who faces a 2008 rape charge in Utah.
Alahverdian is charged with sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, according to the Utah County prosecutor’s office. The office said it found complaints alleging Alahverdian abused and threatened women in other states.
Rossi repeatedly appeared in court — and in several television interviews — in a wheelchair using an oxygen mask and speaking in a British accent (NBC)Authorities in Rhode Island have said Alahverdian is wanted there for failing to register as a sex offender, though his former lawyer there, Jeffrey Pine, said the charge was dropped when he left the state. The FBI has said he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.
Alahverdian, who grew up in Rhode Island, was an outspoken critic of the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. He testified before state lawmakers that he was sexually abused and tortured in temporary shelters by employees and clients and eventually shipped out of state to facilities for troubled youths.
Three years ago, he told media in Rhode Island he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live. An obituary published online claimed he died Feb. 29, 2020.
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