Man to be extradited from Scotland, charged with rape in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — A man who left a trail of crimes in the U.S., fled to Scotland and faked his death was charged with rape in Utah Wednesday.

Previously, KSL reported from court documents that Rossi was accused of raping a former girlfriend he had met on myspace.com and briefly dated in Utah County in 2008. While the woman reported the sexual assault to a local hospital her rape kit was not matched to DNA until 2017, which connected investigators to Rossi.

Rossi is now being charged for a separate assault in Salt Lake City from 2008, according to court documents.

The woman told police she and Rossi had been in a relationship, but that he was often “manipulative.” The two had talked about getting married and had purchased wedding rings.

However, the woman explained, “Rossi became emotionally and verbally abusive.”

After a fight in December 2018, the woman locked Rossi out of her car. Rossi became enraged, “screaming” and “hitting the car.” Eventually, she let Rossi in the car and drove him to his home in South Salt Lake.

Upon arrival, Rossi invited her into the house where they entered Rossi’s bedroom. The woman stated he shut the door and would not allow her to leave. The two began to argue until Rossi held her down and raped her, according to court documents.

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Rossi was involved and wanted for multiple criminal cases including sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping from 2007-2019. Police reports involving Rossi were obtained from Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah and Massachusetts.

Investigators discovered that Rossi fled the country and even attempted to make investigators believe he had died of cancer. Rossi was linked to a number of other similar crimes within Utah and around the country, using aliases including Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Alahverdian Rossi, Nicholas Edward Rossi, Nicholas Alahverdian-Rossi, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown, Arthur Brown and Arthur Knight.

According to court documents, Rossi had a pattern of behavior he used with women he met online, often gaining their trust and then becoming abusive. When women would attempt to leave, Rossi would threaten suicide or force some type of sexual contact.

Rossi is charged with one count of rape, a first-degree felony and will be held without bail pending his extradition from Scotland.

*If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-888-421-1100. You can also call the Rape Recovery Center Crisis Line at 801-467-7273 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.