A Rhode Island man named Nicholas Alahverdian, who is assumed to have faked his death and escaped to the U.S. to evade prosecution in Utah and other states, was arrested in Scotland after being hospitalized due to COVID-19, authorities have said.
Interpol searched a 34-year-old Alahverdian, now handed over to the U.S. to face a charge (cited by the Court) of first-degree rape in Utah in 2008.
The Court stated that Alahverdian linked up with a woman aged around 21 years at MySpace in 2008 while residing in Orem, Utah, and going by Nicholas Rossi.
The woman said that she ended up in a relationship with him. Still, Alahverdian owed her money while promising to pay her back on time and instead sexually exploited her in his apartment.
“Investigators also scrutinized that Nicholas Rossi had fled the country to avoid lawsuit litigating in Ohio and set out to made Investigators in other states and state legislators believed he was dead.”, Levitt’s office said in a statement. “Mr Rossi was traced to be living in Scotland under a fake identity.”
Police were looking for him in Rhode Island for not registering as a sex offender. At the same time, the FBI has said he was also wanted in his home state of Ohio, allegations that he took out credit cards in his foster father’s name and accumulated more than $200,000 in debt.
It is unclear whether Alhawardian has a lawyer; An email seeking comment was sent to the “Alahverdian’s Alhawardian Family Office,” which sent a notice regarding his funeral and memorial service at a church in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2020.
An obituary published online claimed he died on February 29, 2020, but until last year, Rhode Island State Police, Alahverdian’s former attorney and former foster family were publicly questioning whether he really died Was.
