Nicholas Rossi, a 36-year-old fugitive who tried to pass himself off as an Irish orphan in Scotland before his true identity and alleged criminal past were uncovered in 2021, has reportedly been extradited back to the U.S.
Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, Arthur Knight, and allegedly by at least 14 other aliases, left on a plane from a private Scottish airport on Friday to return to the U.S., where he faces rape allegations and more, the BBC reported.
The convicted sex offender infamously faked his death in Rhode Island in 2020, with a fake obituary and news coverage. That obituary cited his newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphoma as the cause of death and claimed that his ashes had been scattered at sea.
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Authorities say the elaborate ploy was an attempt to skirt rape allegations he faced in Utah, but Rossi also faced additional accusations of sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping in Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah, and Massachusetts, a charging document from Salt Lake County said.
Rossi reportedly managed to fly to Ireland or Britain sometime in 2017, where he lived a secret life and married an English woman after supposedly convincing her he was an Irish orphan.
One of Rossi’s neighbors in Scotland said the fugitive didn’t particularly keep a low profile abroad, telling The Sunday Times he used an English accent, had blond hair and a mustache, and claimed to be a professor teaching at the nearby University of Glasgow.
“For someone who was on the run,” the neighbor recalled, “he really liked to draw attention to himself.”
Rossi’s secret life unraveled in 2021 when he sought treatment at a Glasgow hospital for COVID-19. While he was in a coma, a nurse spotted distinctive tattoos on him in October and fingerprints were taken, which revealed his true identity. He was arrested two months later in a hospital room by officers who issued him an Interpol red notice.
Rossi argued in a Scottish court that the U.S. had the wrong man, but a judge determined last year that Rossi was eligible for extradition. Rossi appealed the decision, appearing in court in a wheelchair each time and occasionally waving to reporters as he exited, but lost in every instance.
The alleged conman will now finally face authorities in Utah in connection with rape allegations that stem from 2008. It’s unclear where—and when—his flight from Scotland is suspected to land stateside.
