Judge rules Nicholas Rossi Salt Lake County rape case will go to trial

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Nicholas Rossi, the man who was extradited from Scotland to Utah to face 2008 rape allegations, appeared in court Thursday afternoon for his Salt Lake County preliminary hearing.

After hearing arguments from the state, Judge Lawrence ruled that the state had fulfilled its burden of evidence, meaning there was enough evidence of the crime presented to constitute a jury trial.

Prosecutors interviewed Detective Derek Coats who formerly worked for the Department of Public Safety and investigated both the Salt Lake County and Utah County rape cases. He said he matched the DNA from a 2008 rape kit in Utah County to a convicted sex offender in Ohio.

Coats said the offender was identified as Nicholas Rossi — whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian. Rossi continues to claim he is actually Arthur Knight and not the man prosecutors say he is.

Coats said he became the lead investigator on the Utah rape cases in 2020 and spoke with the Salt Lake County victim who led him to the house where she said Rossi used to live. Coats said he found records indicating that Rossi had previously lived in that residence. There was no DNA sample available for the Salt Lake County case.

Rossi has been accused of faking his death to escape the Utah rape charges. In both cases, Rossi allegedly trapped the victims in his home and sexually assaulted them.

According to Utah County court documents, Rossi also faces charges related to sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping that took place between 2007 and 2019 in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Four years ago, Rossi allegedly told Rhode Island media that he had late-stage, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had only weeks left to live. According to the Associated Press, an online obituary claimed he died on Feb. 29, 2020.

The following year, Rossi was allegedly arrested in a Glasgow hospital while being treated for COVID-19 for an unrelated incident. He was then recognized as a fugitive and extradited to the United States, according to the Associated Press.

Rossi claims he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who has never visited the U.S. and was framed by authorities.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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