Rossi, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a Sinclair Community College student in 2008, has been identified as a suspect in a rape case that occurred the same year in Utah, according to public safety authorities in that state.
But Rossi also was a suspect in a local fraud case in 2016, after someone stole his foster father’s identity to apply for credit cards and open financial accounts, according to a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
Arrested again Thursday
“Investigators also learned that Nicholas Rossi had fled the country to avoid prosecution in Ohio and attempted to lead investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased,” according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Police Scotland officers arrested Rossi (who they called Alahverdian) in the Woodlands area of Glasgow again on Thursday after a warrant was issued by the Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier in the day, according to the Associated Press. The 34-year-old is now due in court Friday.
Rossi made international news when he was first arrested last month in Scotland after allegedly faking his own death and publishing a bogus obituary and online memorial, law enforcement officials say.
An online memorial for Nicholas Alahverdian says he died in February 2020 shortly after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Rossi allegedly contacted media outlets in Rhode Island to inform them he was dying, and the Providence Journal reported that someone claiming to be his widow sent reporters an email saying Rossi died in her arms.
But authorities in Utah say in reality Rossi was living abroad under an assumed name in the hopes of avoiding criminal prosecution.
Dayton financial allegations
In the Dayton area, Rossi used to live at a home on Redder Avenue in Harrison Twp. with his second wife, who he married in October 2015, according to real estate records, court documents and police reports.
Rossi’s wife filed for divorce seven months after they wed, and she accused him of domestic abuse, though she declined to move forward with prosecution and the criminal case was dismissed in Vandalia Municipal Court.
Rossi was a foster child of Sharon and Charles Lane, who lived in Rhode Island before moving to Ohio, according to information in a September 2016 incident report with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
The Lanes relocated to Utah in mid-2015, but Rossi lived at the Harrison Twp. home, which he and Sharon Lane owned, and they had agreed to transfer the property to him when he paid for it, the incident report states.
While living in Utah, the Lanes discovered that Charles, 77, was a victim of identity theft when they received a letter from a financial institution questioning a credit card application, the incident report states.
Sharon Lane placed a fraud alert with three credit reporting agencies, and the Lanes learned that many accounts were opened in Charles’ name without his knowledge or consent, according to the incident report completed by Montgomery County sheriff’s Detective Akshay Gyan.
Paperwork suggested some accounts were opened in Charles Lane’s name, while others were opened in both Lane’s name and the name of the Alahverdian corporation, the report states.
Charles Lane told the sheriff’s detective that Rossi started the Alahverdian foundation and another organization called the Community Progress Institute.
Though the Lanes were trustees with the foundation, they never authorized using their names or information to open accounts or access credit, according to the incident report.
Detective Gyan found evidence of more than $200,000 in fraudulent financial activities.
IRS, FBI, Utah agents involved
Gyan’s report said it appeared that Rossi left the Dayton area, possibly for Rhode Island, and the detective said he met with a special agent with the IRS about the case.
Officials with the Montgomery County sheriff’s office said the case was passed onto federal partners since the victims lived out of state.
Department of Justice officials this week told this newspaper that the Utah prosecution will take precedence over any potential investigation in the Southern District of Ohio. They declined further comment.
Derek Coats, an investigator with the Utah Department of Public Safety, said in court documents that an FBI agent in Ohio told him that Rossi has been indicted for fraud and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Coats has been involved in an investigation into a 2008 sexual assault in Orem, Utah, in which he says Rossi was identified as a suspect using DNA evidence.
Dayton sex conviction details
That same year, Rossi was convicted of misdemeanor counts of sexual imposition and public indecency after he groped and assaulted a female student in a stairwell at Sinclair College in late January while he was attending the school.
The Dayton Daily News learned that Rossi tried to get a new trial in the Sinclair case, using what he called newly discovered evidence, which he claimed was a Myspace blog the victim posted that showed she lied about the case.
But Rossi’s request for a new trial was denied after a Dayton detective and forensic expert testified that the Myspace post appeared to be fabricated or altered.
In Orem, Rossi was accused of raping a 21-year-old ex-girlfriend, who said she broke up with him because he was becoming aggressive and he owed her money, according to a court affidavit Coats submitted in district court in Utah County.
An arrest warrant was issued for Rossi in the fourth district court of Utah for rape, a first-degree felony charge.
Coats’ affidavit says Rossi also was identified as a suspect in a case of unlawful detention involving a woman in Salt Lake City in 2009 and a potential kidnapping case in Rhode Island the following year.
While the Sinclair incident happened in late January 2008, the Dayton Daily News obtained a separate Dayton police report from two weeks earlier in January 2008 in which a 19-year-old female Sinclair college student claimed that she was groped by Rossi though she told him to stop, and that he exposed and pleasured himself.
The woman ultimately told detectives she did not want to move forward with a criminal case.
Coats’ affidavit says the FBI agent in Ohio indicated he had communicated with Rossi by phone and email as recently as late 2019.
According to the agent, Rossi indicated he was living in Ireland because he believes the country does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, the affidavit said.
Rossi allegedly communicated using encryption services and took other steps to try to hide his whereabouts.
Rossi’s self-run Dayton “institute”
While living in the Dayton area, Rossi was self-employed with a group called the Community Progress Institute, according to information provided by his ex-wife in documents filed in the Montgomery County domestic relations court.
His ex-wife said Rossi borrowed $52,000 from a premarital fund that was funded by her parents, which he claimed he needed to keep the Community Progress Institute afloat, court filings state.
His ex-wife said Rossi failed to repay the loan as promised and he hid his earnings from her, but he claimed to make more than $100,000 annually and he also boasted about having hundreds of thousands of dollars in trust funds, according to documents in domestic relations court.
The Community Progress Institute for a while rented office space in what is now called Stratacache Tower, and the group for a brief time issued press releases, held press conferences and distributed informational material at community events.
The institute claimed its mission was to “foster a city renaissance” by bringing people back downtown, and the group claimed its work and programs would improve families, neighborhoods and communities through “innovative strategies and solutions.”
Rossi, under the name Nicholas Alahverdian, also spoke at several Dayton City Commission meetings in spring of 2015. During the public comment portions of the meetings, he urged the city to pass a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide.
Police ask victims to come forward
Now that Rossi is back in custody, Utah law enforcement officials said Thursday they would not comment on extradition proceedings, but they expressed their gratitude to other law enforcement officials for “bringing this individual to justice.”
“We are asking that anyone who may be a victim, please contact the numbers on our website — (801) 965-4747 or (801) 851-8026 — and we will forward that to the agencies with jurisdiction,” said Sherrie Hall Everett, public information officer for the Utah County Attorney’s office.
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