A man from Rhode Island, accused of pretending to be dead to escape rape charges, was convicted of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend. This verdict came during the first of his two trials in Utah.

In Salt Lake County, an eight-member jury found Nicholas Rossi guilty of committing rape in 2008 after a trial that lasted three days. The victim and her parents testified, while Rossi, 38, chose not to give testimony. His sentencing is scheduled for October 20, with another trial for a separate rape charge in Utah County expected in September.

First-degree felony rape carries a punishment in Utah of five years to life in prison, said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

“We commend the survivor for her bravery in coming forward, despite the passage of time,” said Gill in a statement. “She courageously confronted her attacker and played a crucial role in ensuring justice was served.”

Authorities in Utah launched a search for Rossi, legally known as Nicholas Alahverdian, following his identification through a DNA match in a rape kit from 2018. This was part of an initiative to process old rape kits, which led to charges against numerous suspects.

After being charged in Utah County, an online obituary reported Rossi’s death on February 29, 2020, citing late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma as the cause. However, doubts arose from Rhode Island police, his former lawyer, and a past foster family about the authenticity of his death.

Rossi was eventually apprehended in Scotland the next year while undergoing COVID-19 treatment, when hospital staff identified him from Interpol notice tattoos.

Extradited to Utah in January 2024, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture.

He appeared in court this week in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank.

Rossi’s public defender denied the rape claim and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas years later.

“You’re allowed to move, you’re allowed to go somewhere else, you’re allowed to have a different name,” attorney Samantha Dugan said. She declined further comment following the verdict.

Prosecutors painted a picture of an intelligent man who used his charm to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly.

The woman was living with her parents and recovering from a traumatic brain injury when she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist. They began dating and were engaged within about two weeks.

She testified Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. He grew hostile soon after their engagement and raped her in his bedroom one night after she drove him home, she said.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons told jurors Wednesday that the woman did not consent. “This is not romantic, this is not her mistaking things.”

The woman said her parents’ dismissive comments convinced her not to go to the police. She came forward a decade later after seeing him in the news and learning he was accused of another rape from the same year.

Rossi’s lawyers said the woman built up years of resentment after he made her foot the bill for everything in their monthlong relationship. They argued she accused him of rape to get back at him years later when he was getting media attention, and sought to undermine her credibility with jurors.

Rossi’s accuser in the Utah County case, who testified at this week’s trial, is also a former girlfriend. She went to police at the time of that alleged rape. He is accused of attacking her at his apartment in Orem in September 2008 after she came over to collect money she said he stole from her to buy a computer.

When police initially interviewed Rossi, he claimed she raped him and threatened to have him killed.

Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned there before allegedly faking his death. He was previously wanted in the state for failing to register as a sex offender. The FBI says he faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.