A man who posed as an Irish orphan and fled across the Atlantic has been sentenced in Utah to between five years and life for a rape committed in 2008. Friends and authorities say Nicholas Rossi — also known by his legal name, Nicholas Alahverdian — assumed the alias “Arthur Knight,” claimed to have grown up in Ireland, and tried to evade U.S. justice by living in Scotland.
On October 20, 2025, a judge in Salt Lake City handed Rossi the indeterminate sentence under Utah law following his August conviction for first-degree felony rape. Prosecutors described him as “the very definition of a flight risk” and pointed to his global escape and multiple aliases as key aggravating factors.
Rossi had been wanted for a 2008 rape, but was not identified until a DNA match from a long-unprocessed rape kit in Utah led investigators to his trail, local news KSL reports. After the match, Rossi posted a fake obituary in early 2020 claiming he died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He resurfaced in Scotland in 2021 under the name Arthur Knight, claiming to be an Irish orphan who “had nothing to do with America,” even as hospital staff recognised his distinctive tattoos.
In court, Rossi continued to deny guilt, insisting, “I am not guilty of this. These women are lying,” in a soft, raspy voice. The victim impact statement in the case spoke to years of trauma: “This crime stole far more than my peace of mind; it stole who I was,” she told the judge.
Nicholas Rossi sentenced to 5 years to life in prison for Salt Lake County rape conviction https://t.co/gAipZX5tfI
— FOX 13 News Utah (@fox13) October 21, 2025
During sentencing, Judge Barry Lawrence noted Rossi’s prior pattern of alleged abuse in multiple states and flagged the “trail of fear, pain, and destruction” he had left in his wake. He said the only appropriate sentence was prison, FOX 13 News Utah (KSTU) reports.
The sentence covers the first case; Rossi still faces a separate rape conviction in Utah County from a second 2008 incident, with sentencing scheduled for November.
Rossi’s flight from justice involved more than just changing names. He left the U.S. in 2017, adopted numerous aliases and identities, and tried to conceal his past with a fabricated Irish back-story and death. His extradition from Scotland in January 2024 closed the chapter on a year-long international manhunt.
Nicholas Rossi, extradited fugitive who faked his death, begins rape trial in Salt Lake County https://t.co/mBZWJYt52K pic.twitter.com/DkoAvEQFof
— WATE 6 On Your Side (@6News) October 20, 2025
For the Irish-American readership of IrishCentral, the case offers a vivid example of how identity fraud and global evasion collide with U.S. justice. Rossi’s invocation of an Irish orphan persona served as part of the ruse. Now’s the time to reflect on how robust investigative cooperation crossed borders and ultimately held him accountable.
Victims’ advocates say the sentence will allow some measure of closure, though they note the healing process continues.
“A man who should have been protecting me instead used the situation to punish, shame and control me,” one victim said. As the second sentencing looms, Utah’s parole system will determine how long Rossi remains behind bars.
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