American fugitive who faked his death can be extradited to face rape charges, judge rules

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Nicholas Alahverdian, a convicted sex offender accused of faking his own death to avoid a rape charge in Utah, can be extradited to the United States from Scotland, a court ruled on Wednesday.

Since his arrest in December 2021 at a Glasgow hospital, Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court listened to Alahverdian's explanations for why authorities had the wrong man. According to authorities, Alahverdian, 36, has used several aliases over the years and faces allegations of rape and domestic violence.

Known in Scotland as Nicholas Rossi, Alahverdian has been using a wheelchair and oxygen mask while speaking in a British accent during his court appearances. He has also identified himself as Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan who moved to England as a boy and has never traveled to the United States.

But McFadyen had previously dismissed Alahverdian's claims, including that hospital staff surreptitiously took his fingerprints so that a Utah prosecutor could frame "Arthur Knight" for Alahverdian’s crimes.

On Wednesday, the judge called the fugitive "dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative."

"These unfortunate facets of his character have undoubtedly complicated and extended what is ultimately a straightforward case," McFadyen added.

Alahverdian, also known as Nicholas Rossi, claimed to be someone else

Alahverdian was tracked down by Interpol and arrested in a Glasgow hospital in December 2021, where he was suffering from COVID-19. Since then, he has pretended to be an English academic snared in an international tabloid saga. But much of the story has been of his own making.

He told McFadyen last fall that while hospital staff conspired to ink identifying tattoos on his arms while he was in a COVID coma, someone else had sent his fingerprints to Utah to match those of the real Alahverdian. He also denied he was the person in Pawtucket police mug shots from a decade ago. 

In June he told the court several absurdities, including that he and his legal team were close to identifying the real person who faked his death in this case to the detriment of the real Nicholas Alahverdian.

“If we don’t prove it,” he said, “I’m the one who looks the fool. And I don’t propose to look ridiculous.” 

Former Rhode Island attorney general Jeffrey Pine, who represented Alahverdian's misdemeanor sex offender registry charge, said he had no doubt the man claiming to be Knight is his former client.

Nicholas Alahverdian case:American who faked his own death could return to US after bizarre trial ends in Scotland

Alahverdian planted the seeds of his disappearance for years

By the end of 2019, Alahverdian appeared to be making a concerted effort to disappear for good.

While living in England with his soon-to-be new wife, Alahverdian hired Pine to have his name removed from Rhode Island’s sex offender registry. He had received the conviction in 2008 after he groped a woman at an Ohio community college. 

Pine successfully argued before a judge that Alahverdian was out of the country with no intention or desire to return to the United States, and Alahverdian’s name was removed. 

Within weeks, Alahverdian was also calling reporters around Rhode Island, telling them he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma with only weeks to live. Alahverdian, who grew up in Rhode Island, insisted that his life as a “crusader” for children and his lobbying for improving the child welfare system was deserving of news.

Two months later in February 2020, a widely disseminated email from the “Alahverdian Family Office” announced his passing.

Despite several media reports of his death, Utah authorities, working with the Rhode Island State Police, issued an arrest warrant for Alahverdian months after his supposed death. DNA evidence collected from Alahverdian’s Ohio case connected him to a rape in Orem, Utah, that same year, authorities said.  

Since then, Utah authorities have charged him with a second rape in Salt Lake City, and a sexual battery incident in Orem. 

A Utah rape suspect or an Englishman?UK court could help decide

Authorities, victims react to extradition ruling

Authorities and victims, who for at least two years have wanted Alahverdian to face justice, were overjoyed by McFadyen's ruling.

Kathryn Heckendorn, who in 2015 endured what a divorce judge described as seven months of “gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty” at the hands of her abusive husband, said the judge’s decision brought her happiness.

“I’m so happy that the Scottish court didn’t believe his B.S. They saw right through him," she said. "And I’m so happy that we, the women he’s attacked, finally get our chance at justice. We finally get some peace.” 

Former Rhode Island Rep. Brian Coogan almost adopted Alahverdian 20 years ago when he was a State House page and a product of the foster care system. But after Coogan learned how abusive the young man was, he said he became one of the first skeptics of his supposed death.

“I’m really happy about it all – especially for all his victims,” said Coogan. “His victims are going to have a voice now, the chance to tell their story.” As for Alahverdian: “There’s no more tricks in his bag. He’s caught, he’s done. Nick is a monster.” 

Contributing: Associated Press