After years on the run, Scotland-based con man and registered sex offender Nicholas Rossi has been extradited across the pond on Friday (Jan. 5) to face a US court at a future date.
Rossi - a 36-year-old man also known by his real name Nicholas Alahverdian and his alias Arthur Knight - has been suspected of faking his own death in 2020 and hiding out in the UK to avoid sexual abuse charges. He lost his final appeal against being extradited to the US on December 14.
He was previously caught while being treated for COVID-19 at a Glasgow hospital in December 2021.
Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance signed an order approving the decision last September.
Officers in Essex have been investigating Rossi in connection with a non-recent rape allegation which was reported to them in April 2022. He is currently on bail in connection with such an investigation.
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Life On the Run
Rossi was first found guilty of sexual imposition and public indecency while he was a student at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio, in 2008. He also allegedly attacked a former girlfriend in Utah, pushing her onto a couch and forcing her to have sexual intercourse while ignoring her pleas to stop.
However, Rossi maintained that he was a victim of mistaken identity, maintaining that he was Knight after officers detained him at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that his tattoos and fingerprints matched Rossi's, with Sheriff Norman McFadyen ruling that he was indeed the fugitive in November of last year.
However, Rossi claimed that he had been given the tattoos as part of an attempt to frame him while he was lying unconscious in hospital.
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf told the BBC that he did not want to "prejudice any potential inquiry or court case" in the future but praised the cooperation of Scottish authorities with American colleagues during the trial saga.
Former Utah county attorney David O. Leavitt welcomed the news that the extradition process had been completed, saying that it would have been impossible if not for the cooperation of officials from both sides of the pond.
"This wouldn't have happened without them," he added.
