London, Jan 5 (AP) A US fugitive known as Nicholas Rossi, who is accused of faking his own death to avoid a rape charge in Utah, has been extradited to the United States, British media reported Friday.

Rossi, 36, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is charged with sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in Orem, Utah, in 2008, according to the Utah County prosecutor's office. He also faces multiple complaints against him in Rhode Island for alleged domestic violence.

Also Read | US Presidential Election 2024: Joe Biden to Set Up Poll Fight With Donald Trump Saying ‘Democracy at Stake’.

In response to an inquiry from The Associated Press about reports that Rossi had been returned to the US, Police Scotland would only confirm it assisted other law enforcement agencies to extradite a 36-year-old man. It was not immediately clear when Rossi left Scotland or where he was destined.

Rossi's run from the law took a bizarre turn when he was arrested in December 2021 after being recognised by someone at a Glasgow hospital while he was being treated for COVID-19. He insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight and had never set foot on American soil.

Also Read | Indian Navy Warship Reaches Hijacked Vessel MV Lila Norfolk off Somalia Coast, Issues Warning to Pirates.

The man had said he was framed by authorities who took his fingerprints while he was in a coma so they could connect him to Rossi. He repeatedly appeared in court in a wheelchair using an oxygen mask and speaking in a less-than-convincing British accent.

After a protracted court battle, Judge Norman McFadyen of Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled in August that the extradition could move forward. The judge called Rossi “as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.”

McFadyen dismissed his claims of mistaken identity as “implausible” and “fanciful.” The judge said Rossi presented unreliable evidence and he wasn't “prepared to accept any statement of fact made by him unless it was independently supported.”

Rossi lost an appeal in December.

Rossi, who grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island, made a name for himself there as a critic of the state's Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Four years ago, he told media in Rhode Island that he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live. An obituary published online claimed he died Feb. 29, 2020.

About a year later, Rhode Island state police, Alahverdian's former lawyer and his former foster family, questioned whether he was dead.

Authorities in Rhode Island have said Alahverdian is wanted there for failing to register as a sex offender, though his former lawyer there, Jeffrey Pine, told the AP earlier this year that the charge was dropped when he left the state. The FBI has said he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.

Police in England said they also were investigating and seeking to interview Rossi in connection with an older rape allegation made in April 2022 in the city of Chelmsford.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)