‘Dead’ fugitive returned to U.S.

SALT LAKE CITY — An elusive U.S. fugitive accused of faking his own death and traveling the globe to avoid rape charges has been extradited to Utah from Scotland, the Utah County prosecutor’s office said Friday.

The man known in the U.S. as Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is charged with sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, in 2008, according to local prosecutors. He also faces multiple complaints against him in Rhode Island over allegations of domestic violence.

Rossi, 36, was Utah-bound on Friday and will stand trial in Utah County for felony rape charges, county prosecutor David Leavitt said.

“This is a great day,” Leavitt said in a statement thanking his staff.

Rossi’s run from the law took a bizarre turn when he was arrested in December 2021 after being recognized by someone at a Glasgow hospital while he was being treated for covid-19. He insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight and had never set foot on American soil.

The man had said he was framed by authorities who took his fingerprints while he was in a coma so they could connect him to Rossi. He repeatedly appeared in court in a wheelchair, using an oxygen mask and speaking in a less-than-convincing British accent.

After a protracted court battle, Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled in August that the extradition could move forward. The judge called Rossi “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.”

Prosecutors identified at least 10 aliases Rossi had used to evade capture. They also presented medical reports from doctors involved in his care, some describing how he appeared to have faked seizures and others stating that he did not have any ongoing problems with his lungs.