A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death to avoid prosecution for sexual assault has been convicted of rape in Utah, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A Salt Lake County jury found Nicholas Alahverdian - who has also gone by the name Nicholas Rossi - guilty after three days of testimony. The verdict came hours after the 38-year-old declined to testify in his own defense. He will be sentenced Oct. 20 and faces five years to life in prison.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement, "We are grateful to the survivor in this case for her willingness to come forward, years after this attack took place. We appreciate her patience as we worked to bring the defendant back to Salt Lake County so that this trial could take place and she could get justice. It took courage and bravery to take the stand and confront her attacker to hold him accountable."
The case stems from a 2008 incident in which prosecutors said Alahverdian raped a 24-year-old woman he was engaged to after a brief relationship. The victim testified that he became controlling and hostile shortly after their engagement, pressuring her for money to cover rent, car repairs, and other expenses. She said the assault occurred after she ended the relationship and returned his ring.
Utah authorities linked Alahverdian to the crime in 2018 when a backlog of rape kits was processed, identifying him through DNA evidence. By then, an online obituary claimed he had died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2020.
He was arrested in Scotland in 2022 under the name Arthur Knight after hospital staff recognized tattoos from an Interpol notice while he was being treated for COVID-19. At the time, he denied being Alahverdian, claimed to be an Irish orphan, and used a wheelchair and oxygen tank in court appearances. Prosecutors said he had admitted his true identity under oath last year.
Authorities allege Alahverdian used at least a dozen aliases to avoid capture. He has a history of legal troubles, including a 2010 domestic assault conviction in Massachusetts and prior sex-related convictions in Ohio.
He faces a second Utah rape trial in September involving another woman who says he attacked her in 2008 after borrowing money without repayment. In that case, prosecutors say the victim immediately went to police and completed a sexual assault kit.
Attorneys for Alahverdian did not respond to requests for comment after Wednesday's verdict.
