Nicholas Rossi was doomed to a Minimum of five years After Fleeing the US to Scotland to avoid a force Charge
A man who reportedly faked his own death and fled from the United States to Scotland to escape serious felonious charges has been handed a captivity judgment of at least five years.
Nicholas Rossi, 38, a firstly of Rhode Island, was sentenced by District Judge Barry Lawrence in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a rape conviction dating back to 2008. This marks the first of two rulings Rossi faces.
Rossi, who had claimed he was an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight and the victim of mistaken identity, now faces the reality of imprisonment in Utah. His second sentence, stemming from a separate rape conviction, is scheduled for November 4.
The crimes, which occurred in northern Utah, left a lasting impact on the victims. One survivor told the court he had left a “trail of fear, pain and destruction” behind him.
“This is not a plea for vengeance. This is a plea for safety and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully heal,” she said.
Rossi did not testify in his defense. When given a chance to speak, he maintained his innocence.
“I am not guilty of this. These women are lying,” he said, softly, with a raspy voice, according to the Associated Press.
The 38- time-old reportedly offered his own death in February 2020. An online obituary claimed he’d succumbed to non-Hodgkin carcinoma. Before this, he’d been living in Bristol, but the exact timing of his departure from the US remains unclear.
An American man who faked his death and fled to Scotland to escape rape charges has been jailed for at least 5 years.
It’s the first of two sentences 38-year-old Nicholas Rossi faces, after being convicted separately of raping two women in Utah in 2008. pic.twitter.com/o5z4pVY7bU
— CentralFM News (@CentralFMNews) October 21, 2025
Authorities later discovered Rossi had moved to Scotland and remained under the radar until December 2021. He was arrested at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow after sanitarium staff recognized him from his distinctive tattoos.
Investigators revealed that Rossi had employed at least a dozen aliases, including Arthur Brown, a name he used when marrying Miranda Knight. The couple ultimately relocated to Glasgow.
A DNA match in July 2020 confirmed his link to one of the 2008 rapes in Utah. In November 2022, a judge ruled that “Arthur Knight” was indeed Nicholas Rossi, and he was extradited to the US in January 2024.
Rossi’s first sentence will be served at the Utah State Correctional Facility immediately. Utah operates under an indeterminate sentencing system, meaning the duration of his imprisonment will be decided by the state’s board of pardons and parole. It could potentially be for life.
The upcoming November sentencing for his second conviction will determine the full extent of his prison term.
