Man accused of faking death and fleeing US to avoid rape charges will stand trial, Utah judge rules

2024-12-25 13:30:42 source:lotradecoin high-volume trader discounts category:My

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man accused of faking his own death and fleeing the U.S. to avoid rape charges will stand trial, a judge in Utah ruled Thursday.

District Judge Barry Lawrence ruled during Nicholas Rossi’s preliminary hearing that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to warrant a jury trial, KTVX-TV reported.

Prosecutors say Rossi, 37, raped a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument in Salt Lake County in 2008. In a separate case, he is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, that same year and was not identified as a suspect for about a decade due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.

His attorneys at the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press on Thursday evening.

Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, has used several aliases and has said he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil and was being framed.

The American fugitive grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before allegedly faking his death and fleeing the country. An obituary published online claimed Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

RELATED COVERAGE An accident? Experts clash at trial of 3 guards in 2014 death of man at Detroit-area mall California woman fed up with stolen mail sends Apple AirTag to herself to catch thief Gunmen ambush and kill 11 police officers in eastern Pakistan, officials say

Authorities and his former foster family doubted his death.

Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital during treatment for COVID-19. He lost an extradition appeal in the country in December.

Utah County court documents show that Rossi is also accused of sexual assault, harassment and possible kidnapping in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts, KTVX-TV reported.

More:My

Recommend

The brewing recovery in Western North Carolina

The Federal Reserve's last Beige Book of 2024 is like Spotify Wrapped but for the economy. There's a

Pistons match longest losing streak in NBA history at 28 games, falling 128-122 to Boston in OT

BOSTON (AP) — Hoping to avoid a 28th straight loss that would match the longest losing streak in NBA

US applications for jobless benefits rise but labor market remains solid

More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but not enough to raise concern about th