A court in Utah has ordered that a man, Nicholas Rossi Salt Lake County Rapist, who is accused of fabricating his death and escaping the United States to evade rape allegations will face trial. In January, Nicholas Rossi was extradited from Scotland to the US following a protracted legal process in the Scottish courts.
During Nicholas Rossi’s preliminary hearing in Utah, District Judge Barry Lawrence determined that prosecutors had provided sufficient evidence to justify a jury trial, as reported by KTVX-TV.
Nicholas Rossi, aged 37, allegedly committed the act of rape on a 26-year-old ex-girlfriend during a dispute in Salt Lake County in 2008, according to prosecutors.
Additionally, he is charged with sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, during the same year. Due to a significant delay in conducting DNA tests at the Utah State Crime Lab, he was not identified as a suspect for approximately ten years.
Nicholas Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, employed multiple pseudonyms and claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, who had never visited the United States and was falsely accused.
The American fugitive was raised in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before purportedly fabricating his death and escaping the nation.
Nicholas Rossi’s demise was reported in an online obituary, stating that he passed away on February 29, 2020, due to advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The authorities and his previous foster family expressed scepticism regarding his reported demise.
In 2021, Nicholas Rossi was apprehended in Scotland after being identified at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow while receiving medical care for Covid-19.
In December, he was unsuccessful in his petition for extradition to Scotland.
According to court filings in Utah County, Nicholas Rossiis facing allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and maybe kidnapping in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts, as reported by KTVX-TV.
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