US Fugitive Nicholas Rossi Sentenced to Prison After Faking Death to Evade Rape Charges

Nicholas Rossi, who was extradited to the United States in January 2024, received a prison sentence of five-years-to-life on Monday for raping his former girlfriend 17 years ago.

The 38-year-old American went to extraordinary measures to evade justice, including faking his own death and escaping to Scotland after committing the sexual assault in Utah in 2008.

During the sentencing in Salt Lake City, Judge Barry Lawrence highlighted Rossi's elaborate escape attempts as an "aggravating factor" in his decision.

"He is the very definition of a flight risk," stated Lawrence. "He fled the country to avoid investigation, he took on an alias, and even in response to this case, refused to admit who he was."

"I conclude that the only appropriate sentence in this case is to send you to prison," the judge declared.

Under Utah state law, where Rossi was convicted in August 2025 for raping his ex-girlfriend, a judicial commission will determine his potential release date.

Rossi awaits another sentencing in November following a separate rape conviction.

His deception included faking his death under his legal name, Nicholas Alahverdian, and publishing an obituary claiming he had succumbed to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

While evading authorities in Europe, Rossi posed as an Irishman when seeking treatment for Covid-19 at a Glasgow hospital in 2021.

Utah authorities began searching for Rossi in 2018 after identifying him through a decade-old DNA rape kit connected to another case, according to CBS News.

In 2019, Rossi convinced those around him that he was suffering from terminal cancer. He subsequently published an online obituary before vanishing and fleeing to the United Kingdom.

The subject of an Interpol notice, Rossi was apprehended in October 2021 following his admission to a Scottish hospital.

He claimed to be Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan. However, police and medical personnel identified him as Nicholas Rossi based on matching tattoos described in Interpol's notice.

Throughout legal proceedings, he maintained he was misidentified, even alleging that the tattoos were applied without his knowledge while unconscious in the hospital.

He also claimed his fingerprints, taken at the hospital, were switched to frame him. During extradition hearings, he appeared in an electric wheelchair wearing an oxygen mask.

A doctor later determined there was no medical justification for this, describing his leg condition as "strong and athletic."

According to Sky News, investigators revealed that Rossi had utilized at least twelve different aliases over the years to avoid capture.

In a separate trial in September, Rossi was also convicted of another rape committed in 2008.

His sentencing for that case is scheduled for November.