End of run for an American who broadcast a false announcement of his death and changed his identity in the United Kingdom

2024-01-05 23:03:18

Until the end, he tried to deceive his people. An American man prosecuted for rape in his country was extradited from Scotland to the United States, ending a turbulent run that included an imaginary death, a false identity and fanciful health problems, according to local press and police on Friday .

Police Scotland confirmed they had assisted “partner agencies in the extradition of a 36-year-old man”. Wanted by American justice as part of an investigation into the rape of a woman in Utah in 2008 and other sexual assaults, Nicholas Rossi, 36, was subject to an extradition decree signed by the Scottish Government. In 2019, he led those around him to believe that he was suffering from advanced cancer and then had an obituary published online, before disappearing and reappearing in the United Kingdom.

Targeted by an Interpol notice, Nicholas Rossi was arrested in October 2021 when he had Covid-19 and went to a hospital in Glasgow. He had claimed his name was Arthur Knight and that he was an Irish orphan. But police and caregivers identified him as Nicholas Rossi, his tattoos matching the Interpol description.

Tattoos and wheelchair

An Edinburgh court officially identified him, deeming his explanations during the proceedings “improbable and fanciful”. He had claimed to be the victim of mistaken identity, even claiming that the tattoos had been done to him without his knowledge while he was unconscious in hospital. He also claimed that his fingerprints, taken at the hospital, would have been exchanged with those of Rossi in order to pass him off as the wanted man.

During the extradition proceedings, he also appeared in an electric wheelchair and with an oxygen mask, but a doctor ruled there was no medical reason for this, describing his legs as “strong and athletic”. He also once appeared in what he described as clothing worn by Orthodox Jews, explaining that he had converted in prison. He was also arrested in October by British police for other rape charges in England dating back to 2017 in Chelmsford, about sixty kilometers northeast of London.