Man charged with rapes in Utah says he changed his names due to threats

A man charged with two rapes in Utah who lived under a series of names in the United Kingdom and allegedly faked his own death said Wednesday that he changed his name because of threats made against his life.

During a court hearing in Provo, Nicholas Rossi testified that, after moving to Europe in 2017, he learned in 2020 through contacts he made while working in politics in Rhode Island that there were credible threats against his life.

Rossi — who has also been known as Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Brown and Arthur Knight — had been an outspoken critic of Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, testifying before state lawmakers about being sexually abused and tortured while in foster care as a child. He implied the threats were related to his work to reform the foster care system but objected to disclosing who was threatening him.

"I don’t want to give a mouse cheese,” he said.

Fourth District Judge Derek Pullan temporarily closed the courtroom to the public so Rossi could identify the source of the threats.

Rossi's comments came as his lawyers unsuccessfully tried to convince Pullan that Rossi was not a flight risk and that his bail should be lowered so he could be released from jail while facing prosecution. He is charged with the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah in 2008. The rape kit in the case was not tested until 2017 because of a backlog of untested DNA kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.

Rossi pleaded not guilty in the case during the hearing.

He is also charged with raping a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument in Salt Lake County, also in 2008.

Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital during treatment for COVID-19. He fought extradition to Utah for three years and has denied until recently that he was Rossi, previously claiming he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil and was being framed.

Investigator Derek Coates testified during the hearing that Rossi left the U.S. for Ireland in 2017 while a foundation he launched to help abused children was being investigated for suspected fraud in Ohio by the FBI. Rossi had an Irish driver's license using the name Nicholas Brown but police there confirmed it was a false identification using a stolen document, Coates said.

Rossi depends on oxygen to breathe and uses a wheelchair as a result of his muscles becoming weakened by the coronavirus. The defense argued that Rossi should be let out of jail partly so he could get physical therapy to allow him to walk again.

Pullan said Rossi's history and the fact that Rossi's wife in the United Kingdom periodically sends him money make him believe Rossi could be a flight risk despite his health problems. He ordered that Rossi be held in jail without being able to post bail.