Nicholas Rossi can be extradited from Scotland to the US to face rape and sexual assault charges, a Glasgow judge ruled this week at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
AP News reports that on Wednesday, Judge Norman McFadyen called 35-year-old Rossi’s claims of being an Irish orphan “implausible” and “fanciful” before the ruling. Rossi has been fighting his return to the U.S. since his December 2021 arrest at a Glasgow hospital.
At the time, Rossi was receiving treatment for COVID-19.
Since then, Rossi appeared in court multiple times and given several television interviews while using a wheelchair and an oxygen mask. Throughout these appearances, he has maintained that he is an Irish orphan named “Arthur Knight” who has never been to America.
US police identified Rossi as Nicholas Alahverdian and allege he has changed his name numerous times. He is wanted for a 2008 rape charge in Utah, where he is accused of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem.
He’s reportedly also wanted in Rhode Island for failing to register as a sex offender, and the FBI charged him with fraud in Ohio, where he was previously convicted of sex-related offenses in 2008. He’s also accused of faking his own death to avoid capture.
BBC reports that Rossi sat “slumped in his wheelchair” while appearing via video during Wednesday’s hearing. At one point, he raised his head and yelled, “disgrace to justice,” before the video link was stopped by a court clerk.
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Last November, Sheriff Norman McFadyen ruled that the defendant was indeed Nicholas Rossi and not Arthur Knight, despite Rossi’s claims. McFayden added that Rossi was “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.”
“It follows that I must send the case of the requested person Nicholas Rossi to the Scottish ministers for their decision whether he is to be extradited,” the sheriff said.
Scottish ministers will now decide if the extradition should take place.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo via Pawtucket Police Department]
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