US man arrested in Scotland and convicted of Utah rape gets at least 5
years in prison
[October 21, 2025]
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MEAD GRUVER
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday sentenced a man who
appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest on
rape charges to anywhere from five years to life in prison.
Nicholas Rossi, 38, is “a serial abuser of women” and “the very
definition of a flight risk,” District Judge Barry Lawrence said before
handing down the sentence.
It was Rossi's first of two sentencings after separate convictions in
August and September of raping two women in northern Utah in 2008. He is
scheduled to be sentenced in November in the second case.
Utah allows prison sentences to be given as a range rather than a set
period of time. A parole board will determine if and when Rossi is
released. Five years to life is the entire range of possible prison time
under Utah law for rape, a first-degree felony.
Jurors found Rossi guilty of rape in August after a three-day trial in
which his accuser and her parents each took the stand.
Rossi left a “trail of fear, pain and destruction” behind him, the
victim in the case told the court shortly before Rossi was sentenced.
The Associated Press does not typically identify rape victims.
“This is not a plea for vengeance," she said. “This is a plea for safety
and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully
heal.”
Rossi posed a risk to community safety and should be in prison, argued
Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons, a prosecutor
in the case, before the sentencing. Rossi's lawyers, meanwhile, urged
the judge to give him parole.
Rossi did not testify on his own behalf during the trial. Given a chance
to speak before being sentenced Monday, he maintained his innocence.
“I am not guilty of this. These women are lying,” Rossi said in a soft,
raspy voice. He appeared in court in a wheelchair and used an oxygen
tank.
Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas
Alahverdian, when he was identified in 2018 through a decade-old DNA
rape kit. He was among thousands of rape suspects identified and later
charged when Utah made a push to clear its rape kit backlog.
Months after he was charged in that case, an online obituary claimed
Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his
home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former
foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead.
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In this image captured from video, Nicholas Rossi, left, appears in
a Salt Lake City court, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, for his sentencing
hearing on a rape conviction. To his right is MacKenzie Potter of
the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association. (Fox 13/Pool Video via AP)
He was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving
treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized his distinctive
tattoos — including the crest of Brown University inked on his
shoulder, although he never attended — from an Interpol notice.
He was extradited to Utah in January 2024 after a protracted court
battle. At the time, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named
Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they
identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to
evade capture.
In his first trial, Rossi’s public defender denied the rape claim
and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas. Even
so, the jury convicted Rossi of the rape charge for which he was
sentenced Monday.
The victim in the case had been living with her parents and
recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2008 when she responded
to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist. They began dating and
were engaged within a couple weeks.
She testified that Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs,
lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and take on debt to buy
their engagement rings. He grew hostile soon after their engagement
and raped her in his bedroom one night after she drove him home, she
said.
She went to police years later, after hearing that Rossi was accused
of raping another woman in Utah around the same time.
The victim in that case went to police soon after Rossi attacked her
at his apartment in Orem. The woman had gone there to collect money
she said he stole from her to buy a computer.
Rossi was convicted in that case in September and sentencing is set
for Nov. 4.
Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned there
before he appeared to fake his death and flee the country. He was
previously wanted in the state for failing to register as a sex
offender. The FBI says he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he
was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.
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Gruver reported from Ft. Collins, Colorado.
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