A decide has sentenced a Rhode Island man who appeared to faux his demise and flee the USA to keep away from arrest of not less than 5 years in jail for rape.
The sentence handed down Monday for Nicholas Rossi, 38, was the primary of two he faces after being convicted individually in August and September of raping two girls in northern Utah in 2008. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in November for the second conviction.
District decide Barry Lawrence sentenced Rossi to at least 5 years and as much as life on the Utah state correctional facility to start instantly. He famous that Utah has “indeterminate sentencing”, which means the sentence is given in a spread of years relatively than a hard and fast quantity, and the state’s board of pardons and parole determines the precise launch date.
Jurors discovered Rossi responsible of rape in August after a three-day trial wherein his accuser and her dad and mom every took the stand.
Rossi left a “path of concern, ache and destruction” behind him, the sufferer within the case informed the courtroom shortly earlier than Rossi was sentenced. The Related Press doesn’t usually determine rape victims.
“This isn’t a plea for vengeance. This can be a plea for security and accountability, for recognition of the injury that may by no means totally heal,” she stated.
Rossi “makes use of rape to manage girls” and posed a danger to neighborhood security, argued deputy Salt Lake county district legal professional Brandon Simmons, a prosecutor within the case.
Rossi didn’t testify on his personal behalf at his trial. Given an opportunity to talk earlier than being sentenced Monday, Rossi maintained his innocence.
“I’m not responsible of this. These girls are mendacity,” Rossi stated softly, with a raspy voice.
It took greater than a decade from the time of the rapes to his convictions. Utah authorities started looking for Rossi, whose authorized identify is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was recognized in 2018 by means of a decade-old DNA rape equipment tied to the opposite case. He was amongst 1000’s of rape suspects recognized and later charged when Utah made a push to clear its rape equipment backlog.
Months after he was charged in that case, a web-based obituary claimed Rossi died on 29 February 2020, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However police in his dwelling state of Rhode Island, alongside together with his former lawyer and a former foster household, forged doubt on whether or not he was useless.
He was arrested in Scotland the next 12 months whereas receiving therapy for Covid-19 after hospital employees acknowledged his distinctive tattoos – together with the crest of Brown College inked on his shoulder, though he by no means attended – from an Interpol discover.
He was extradited to Utah in January 2024 after a protracted courtroom battle. On the time, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they recognized not less than a dozen aliases Rossi used through the years to evade seize.
In his first Utah trial, Rossi’s public defender denied the rape declare and urged jurors to not learn an excessive amount of into his transfer abroad. Even so, the jury convicted Rossi of the rape cost for which he was sentenced on Monday.
The sufferer had been dwelling together with her dad and mom and recovering from a traumatic mind damage in 2008 when she responded to a private advert Rossi posted on Craigslist. They started relationship and have been engaged inside a pair weeks.
She testified that Rossi requested her to pay for dates and automobile repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and tackle debt to purchase their engagement rings. He grew hostile quickly after their engagement and raped her in his bed room one night time after she drove him dwelling, she stated.
She went to police years later after listening to Rossi was accused of raping one other lady in Utah across the identical time.
The sufferer in that case went to police quickly after Rossi attacked her at his residence in Orem. The girl had gone there to gather cash she stated he stole from her to purchase a pc.
Rossi was convicted in that case in September and sentencing is about for 4 November.
Rossi grew up in foster properties in Rhode Island and returned there earlier than he appeared to faux his demise and flee the nation. He was beforehand needed within the state for failing to register as a intercourse offender. The FBI says he additionally faces fraud expenses in Ohio, the place he was convicted of sex-related expenses in 2008.
