SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) – Additional charges have been officially filed on Wednesday in the ongoing international case against Nicholas Rossi, a man accused of faking his own death to escape a Utah rape charge from 2008.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney says an arrest warrant has been issued for Rossi and they are currently working to extradite him from Scotland to Utah County to stand trial for the alleged rape charges. Rossi’s story has since been capturing headlines, garnering both local and international attention.
After the 2008 rape incident, authorities say Rossi fled the country and moved to Scotland where he was living under a different name and identity. Officials say this was done with the intention of convincing authorities that he was dead.
Rossi was eventually tracked down and arrested back in January 2022 while he was in a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. Rossi has been known to use many aliases including Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Brown, Arthur Winston Brown and Arthur Knight Brown.
Authorities have now released more details on the 2008 rape incident that Rossi is being accused of. Court documents say the incident happened sometime between Nov. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2008.
The victim had met Rossi online and began a relationship with him when she was 26-years-old at the time.
She says Rossi “seemed nice” and educated when they first met but soon become manipulative. She says Rossi did not have a job and convinced her to loan him money that he never repaid. The victim says Rossi suggested they marry and bought wedding rings.
Sometime in Dec. 2008, the victim was with Rossi at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City when an argument ensued and Rossi become “emotionally and verbally abusive.”
The victim says she took off her wedding ring and stepped inside her car while locking the doors. She says Rossi “stood outside the car, screaming and hitting the car.” She eventually allowed Rossi inside the car and drove him back to his home in South Salt Lake.
The woman says Rossi refused to step out of the car and threatened to call the police, accusing her of hitting him. When he eventually calmed down, the victim says they both entered his home and headed to his bedroom where he “shut the door and would not allow her to leave.”
The woman says Rossi forced her onto his bed and allegedly raped her while pinning her down.
Officials say Rossi had previous run-ins with the law including cases of theft, criminal sexual assault, harassment and possible kidnapping committed across multiple states including Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah and Massachusetts.
Court documents say in each case, there is a “consistent pattern of behavior” where Rossi would meet a woman online, later meet with them in person, isolate the woman in a more private location and “initiate some inappropriate contact, leading the female to leave.”
Rossi would then “either threaten to commit suicide or will force a non-consensual sexual encounter.” Authorities say whenever Rossi is confronted by law enforcement, he will always accuse the “female as the aggressor in each case.”
Rossi has continually denied all accusations, insisting authorities are targeting the wrong person during an interview with The BBC back in March 2022.
In the interview, Rossi claimed to be a man named Arthur Knight and says he’s never stepped foot in the U.S. He appears in the interview while seated in a wheelchair and wearing an oxygen mask.
Most recently, Rossi’s name made headlines again when Utah County Attorney David Leavitt addressed allegations that he and his wife were guilty of murdering and cannibalizing young children. Leavitt says the allegations were first brought to public attention by Rossi in an online post.
Leavitt believes Rossi, whose rape charges were prosecuted by Leavitt, is aiming to retaliate against him.
On July 5, in an unrelated incident, the Utah County Attorney’s Office says Knight was arrested for “allegedly behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital” where he is currently a patient.
At this time, Rossi is being extradited from Scotland to face the alleged rape charges in a Utah court of law.
