A person accused of faking his demise and dwelling below a false identification within the UK to dodge rape costs was lastly face-to-face with one of many girls accusing him of sexual assault as his jury trial started in Utah courtroom Monday.
Nicholas Rossi — whose authorized identify is Nicholas Alahverdian — is accused of sexually assaulting two girls in Utah in 2008. The 38-year-old has pleaded not responsible to the costs as prosecutors declare he used his allure to reap the benefits of and rape susceptible younger girls.
Prosecutors try the instances individually, with the primary set in Salt Lake County.
The previous Rhode Island foster child was discovered alive and arrested in Scotland in 2021 — a yr after an obituary claimed he’d died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma — when Glasgow hospital employees acknowledged him as he was being handled for COVID.
Rossi claimed he was an Irishman named Arthur Knight and had by no means set foot within the US, however he quickly misplaced his extradition battle and was despatched again to Utah in January 2024.
The alleged conman even claimed that tattoos proving he was Rossi had been inked whereas he was in a coma as a part of a weird conspiracy to border him.
Scottish decide, Sheriff Norman McFadyen, didn’t purchase it, calling the fugitive “as dishonest and deceitful as he’s evasive and manipulative.” He dominated that Rossi be extradited again to the US to lastly go to trial for the alleged rapes.
Prosecutors say they’ve recognized at the least a dozen aliases Rossi used over time to evade seize.
On Monday, the accused fraudster rolled right into a Salt Lake Metropolis courtroom in a wheelchair, swimsuit and tie, and respiration via an oxygen tank.
His alleged sufferer, whose identify won’t be publicly launched, recognized him from the witness stand, calling Rossi “a bit of bit heavier, a bit of bit older,” however in any other case unchanged.
Rossi raped the lady as she resisted his makes an attempt to regulate her almost 17 years in the past, Deputy Salt Lake County District Lawyer Brandon Simmons alleged in courtroom.
The sufferer described a whirlwind relationship with Rossi that started in November 2008 whereas she was recovering from a traumatic mind damage.
The 2 started relationship after she responded to an advert Rossi posted on Fb, and had been engaged inside two weeks of realizing one another, she stated.
Whereas collectively, the lady stated she acted as Rossi’s private pockets — paying for dates, their engagement rings, and overlaying his lease so he wouldn’t be evicted.
“I used to be a bit of bit extra of a timid individual again then, and so it was more durable for me to face up for myself,” she informed the courtroom Monday.
The connection shortly soured after their engagement, with Rossi “changing into controlling and saying imply issues to me,” she testified.
The couple acquired right into a battle wherein Rossi pounded on her automotive and used himself as a human impediment to dam her from pulling out of the parking storage, the sufferer alleged.
She lastly let him inside and drove him house, however stated she had no plans of constant a relationship.
The girl agreed to enter his home to speak, however Rossi as an alternative pushed her onto his mattress, held her down, and “compelled me to have intercourse with him,” as she was mendacity nonetheless and paralyzed with worry, she testified, including that her mother and father discouraged her from going to the police.
She later tried, then dropped, a small claims courtroom case over the engagement rings.
Rossi’s legal professionals argued the lady made accusations years later out of resentment.
“This case is like an outdated puzzle from the thrift retailer,” stated MacKenzie Potter, considered one of Rossi’s attorneys. “It’s 13 years outdated, not all of the items are there, some items are from a unique puzzle. And if you begin going via every part, you’re not going to get an entire image.”
Prosecutors countered that any lacking items are on account of Rossi’s authorized crew pushing to dismiss proof.
Rossi will stand trial in September for one more, separate rape cost in Utah County.
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