Nicholas Rossi confirms identity and admits to using an alias during bail hearing on rape charges in Utah

American fugitive Nicholas Rossi has confirmed his identity and admitted using an alias in a Utah court.

Rossi was extradited from Scotland to the US in January after a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.

District Judge Barry Lawrence ruled during Rossi’s preliminary hearing in Utah that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to warrant a jury trial, KTVX-TV reported.

On Wednesday, Rossi confirmed he was born Nicholas Alahverdian during a hearing to set bail on one of the rape charges.

He claimed he used the alias Arthur Knight after receiving “credible threats.”

Prosecutors say Rossi, 37, raped a 26-year-old woman 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.

He was not identified as a suspect for about a decade due to a backlog of DNA testing at the Utah State Crime Lab.

He was determined to be a flight risk if released and was denied bail as the case continued. Rossi denies the accusations.

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Rossi is said to have faked his own death before hiding out in Scotland.

He was accused of setting up his own memorial service and fleeing to Britain in an attempt to avoid American prosecution.

The 36-year-old had claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, but a court ruled he was actually registered sex offender Nicholas Rossi.

He was found guilty of sexual imposition and public indecency in 2008 while a student at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

He was caught and arrested after someone recognized him while he was being treated for Covid-19 in a Glasgow hospital in December 2021.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled that his tattoos and fingerprints matched those of Rossi – who appeared on an Interpol notice.

A warrant for Rossi’s extradition from Scotland was signed in September 2023 and he was flown back to America in January.

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