RI Man Accused Of Faking Death To Dodge Rape Charge Gets 5 Years To Life: Reports

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — A Rhode Island man accused of faking his own death to dodge a rape charge was sentenced to five years to life in prison Monday, multiple media outlets reported.

"Nicholas Rossi, the man who was extradited from Scotland to Utah to face 2008 rape allegations, has been sentenced in Salt Lake County to five years to life in prison," News4Utah reported.

Related: RI Man Accused Of Faking Death To Evade Rape Charge Convicted Of Rape: Reports

Rossi still faces another rape case, according to the Guardian.

"The sentence handed down Monday for Nicholas Rossi, 38, was the first of two he faces after being convicted separately in August and September of raping two women in northern Utah in 2008," the Guardian reported. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November for the second conviction.

See also: Assault At Warwick Courthouse: Cops

Prosecutors said Rossi, who denied committing the rape and accused the two women of lying, exhibited a "pattern of deceitful behavior that suggested he was trying to avoid law enforcement" by attempting to fake his own death and live in Scotland, according to the New York Times.

See also: Providence Prowler Pinched Following Foot Pursuit: Police

"Using the name Nicholas Alahverdian, investigators said, he orchestrated an elaborate ruse to fake his death in 2020, creating an obituary that said he had died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 32," the Times reported. "An online memorial page contained glowing tributes to Mr. Alahverdian, including purported messages from a congressman and the mayor of Providence, R.I."

See also: Providence Murderer Catches New Assault Case

Prior to sentencing, the Utah judge called Rossi a "serial abuser of women" and said he was the "very definition of a flight risk," the BBC said.

"He fled the country to avoid investigation. He took on an alias and, even in response to this case, refused to admit who he was," the BBC quoted the judge saying of Rossi, who "claimed that his name was Arthur Knight" and was an Irish-born orphan who had never been to the US."

See also: Cranston Cops Searching For Landscaping Equipment Thief