Nicholas Rossi found guilty of 2008 rape in Salt Lake County trial after faking death, being extradited from Scotland

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Nicholas Rossi has been found guilty of rape allegations dating back to 2008 as his trial in Salt Lake County concluded Wednesday. Rossi was extradited from Scotland to Utah after he reportedly faked his own death to escape these charges.

Rossi’s trial for rape charges dating back to 2008 began on Monday August 11, and it was originally scheduled to run until Friday. However, in the evening of August 13, the jury found Rossi guilty of first-degree felony rape.

Rossi, legal name Nicholas Alahverdian, was accused of faking his death in order to escape rape charges in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Rossi also insisted that he was not Nicholas Rossi for years, claiming that prosecutors had the wrong man and that he was actually Arthur Knight.

Rossi has been found guilty of raping a 24-year-old woman in December of 2008, after they dated for a brief period of time. Court documents stated that Rossi trapped the woman in his bedroom, not allowing her to leave, and committed the assault.

Rossi met the victim online in 2008, and they dated between November and December of that year. During the trial, the victim, now 41, testified that while they were dating, Rossi constantly borrowed money from her and pressured her to marry him.

According to a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Rossi bought them wedding rings. He also became verbally abusive. After an argument while they were at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City, the victim took off her wedding ring and got into her car.

Rossi then began screaming and hitting the car, but eventually, he got into the car, and the victim drove him home. At his home, he refused to get out of the car and said that he would call the police and say that she hit him.

The victim testified that he eventually convinced her to come inside his home, where she attempted to end the relationship. He trapped her in the bedroom and then raped her.

Rossi is facing five years to life in prison for this conviction. Sentencing is set to take place on October 20, 2025.

“We are grateful to the survivor in this case for her willingness to come forward, years after this attack took place. We appreciate her patience as we worked to bring the defendant back to Salt Lake County so that this trial could take place and she could get justice. It took courage and bravery to take the stand and confront her attacker to hold him accountable,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said.

Reportedly, in 2020, Rossi told a media outlet that he had late-stage cancer and an obituary was later published online, according to the Associated Press. The obituary claimed he died on February 29, 2020, but he was later arrested for an unrelated incident in Glasgow while he was being treated for COVID-19.

Following that arrest, he was recognized as a fugitive and extradited from Scotland to the U.S. in 2023.

In October of 2024, prosecutors for Utah County were hopeful to come to a resolution with Rossi, but in January, Rossi’s defense attorneys stated that they would not be taking a plea deal. Rossi is scheduled for a final pretrial conference for his Utah County rape charges on August 26.

Rossi is facing charges in other states as well. He is facing sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping charges in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts.