Nicholas Rossi found guilty of rape for a second time in Utah County trial

PROVO, Utah (ABC4) — After being found guilty of rape in Salt Lake County, Nicholas Rossi, the extradited fugitive who faked his own death, has been found guilty of rape for a second time, in his Utah County trial.

Rossi has been found guilty of first-degree felony rape. In both the Utah and Salt Lake County cases, Rossi was accused trapping the victims in his home and sexually assaulting them in 2008.

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’s Utah County jury trial began on September 15, after negotiations with prosecutors fell through in January.

According to charging documents in the Utah County case, in September 2008, the victim who was 21 years old at the time reported to a local hospital that she had been sexually assaulted by her ex-boyfriend, Rossi. They met online and dated for a few months.

During that time, Rossi reportedly became more aggressive, and he also owed the victim money, so she ended the relationship. However, the day the assault happened, he invited her over, telling her that he would pay her the money he owed her. When she was in his home, he raped her.

After the assault, Rossi told the victim that it was her fault because she was “mentally unstable and too emotional to deal with.” He blocked the door to stop her from leaving, but she was able to run outside when he was distracted by a text.

In August 2025, Rossi was found guilty of first-degree felony rape charges in Salt Lake County. He was convicted of raping a woman that he had been dating for a short time in December of 2008. Court documents stated that Rossi trapped the woman in his bedroom, not allowing her to leave, and committed the assault.

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.

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.