The defendant authorities believe to be Nicholas Rossi, gestures, during a press conference at Edinburgh Sheriff And Justice Of The Peace Court, after a preliminary hearing on the extradition of Nicholas Rossi to the US, where he is wanted after allegedly fleeing the country in 2017 to evade charges involving identity theft and fraud, and a 2008 sexual assault charge in Utah. The man, who goes by at least ten other aliases, including Nicholas Alahverdian and Arthur Knight, denies he is Rossi, in Edinburgh, Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP) (Jane Barlow, PA)
SALT LAKE CITY – 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.
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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.
