Me? I’m not US fugitive ... claims alleged US fugitive
Farcical scenes over man ‘who faked own death’
A WHEELCHAIR-bound man has denied allegations he is a fugitive who fled to Scotland after faking his death in America.
Authorities in the United States claim the accused is Nicholas Rossi, who is wanted there over an allegation of sexual assault and uses as many as 16 different aliases.
Rossi also goes by the name Nicholas Alahverdian.
However, the 34-year-old, who was arrested in a Glasgow hospital last month, claims his name is Arthur Knight.
During a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, the accused sat in a wheelchair, wearing an oxygen mask.
Throughout the hearing his lawyer referred to him as Arthur Knight while prosecutors called him Rossi.
He was first arrested on December 13 last year after being admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow for urgent treatment for Covid.
He is said to have been admitted using the alias Arthur Knight. He was traced following a tip-off from Interpol while he was on a ventilator in intensive care.
Rossi told US media in December 2019 he was suffering from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live. Several outlets reported that he had died in February 2020.
Rossi is accused by Utah prosecutors of fleeing the US to avoid prosecution for an alleged sexual assault in 2008. He is said to have attacked women in the states of Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts.
Yesterday, the accused was brought into court by paramedics. He was using an oxygen cylinder and had an oximeter – which measures blood saturation levels – attached to one of his fingers.
He was wearing pyjamas and socks and his head was initially covered by a towel.
When asked by the clerk of court if he was Nicholas Rossi, the man replied: ‘No.’
The court heard the accused had been granted bail after he appeared via video link from the QEUH on December 23.
However, he failed to appear at a hearing on Thursday, prompting Sheriff Alistair Noble to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Officers from Police Scotland re-arrested the accused at a property in West End Park Street in Glasgow’s Woodlands area hours later.
Yesterday, prosecutor Jennifer Johnston said that the accused should have his bail revoked as he posed a ‘significant flight risk’.
She said he had been granted bail because it was thought he would be in hospital for ‘several weeks’ but that he checked himself out the following day.
Calling him ‘Mr Rossi’, she added: ‘Mr Rossi made efforts to leave the hospital. He called a private taxi company and he offered them £100 to take him from the hospital.
‘There’s information that he attempted to source a private ambulance and that he tried to source oxygen and these efforts were attempted to be made before the virtual hearing on December 23.’
The court was told police and hospital staff identified the man as Nicholas Rossi from tattoos on his body. Photographs obtained by police show Rossi had tattoos on his arms. The court heard fingerprints had yet to be taken from the man.
During proceedings, the accused could be heard shouting: ‘That’s not true’ to what the prosecutor was saying. He also said: ‘Oh my God.’
At one stage, paramedics were called back into court to monitor his wellbeing.
The man’s lawyer, Fred McIntosh, QC, argued that bail should not be revoked and said that if his client were to be remanded to prison, there was ‘a serious risk of asphyxiating in his sleep’.
Sheriff Noble revoked the accused’s bail and remanded him in custody. The case will next call in February.