A Rhode Island guy who is thought to have fled the U.S. and faked his personal demise to evade prosecution for rape and fiscal fraud has been arrested in Scotland after being hospitalized with COVID-19, government mentioned.
Nicholas Alahverdian, 34, who has been a vocal critic of Rhode Island kid welfare after pronouncing he used to be sexually abused within the state’s foster care gadget, now faces extradition to the U.S. to stand a rape price in Utah.
Alahverdian used to be came upon after growing a significant case of the coronavirus and being put on a ventilator at a health facility in Glasgow, Rhode Island State Police Maj. Robert Creamer advised The Windfall Magazine this week.
Health facility body of workers verified his identification via evaluating their affected person to a photograph of Alahverdian submitted via investigators, Utah County Legal professional David Leavitt’s workplace mentioned, declining to supply main points.
Alahverdian, who have been dwelling in a foreign country underneath the assumed title of Arthur Knight and has long past via different aliases, used to be arrested Dec. 13 via Scottish government. Leavitt mentioned Friday his workplace has been offering knowledge to government in a foreign country referring to Alahverdian’s flight possibility because the court docket weighs his bail. A consultant for Alahverdian may now not be positioned for remark.
Courtroom paperwork unsealed in Utah on Thursday display Alahverdian met a 21-year-old lady on MySpace in 2008, when he used to be dwelling in Orem, Utah, and going via the title Nicholas Rossi.
The lady mentioned she ended the connection however Alahverdian owed her cash, promised to pay her again and as a substitute sexually assaulted her in his rental.
Leavitt’s workplace mentioned DNA proof accumulated on the time wasn’t examined till 2017 as a part of a state effort to transparent backlogged rape kits. The proof got here again as a fit to a sexual attack case in Ohio.
Alahverdian have been convicted in 2008 on two sex-related fees after an come across with a fellow scholar at Sinclair Neighborhood Faculty in Dayton. Rhode Island State Police have mentioned Alahverdian may be sought after of their state for failing to check in as a intercourse culprit.
The FBI has mentioned he’s additionally sought after in Ohio on fees he took out bank cards in his foster father’s title and accrued greater than $200,000 in money owed.
Leavitt’s workplace didn’t remark Friday when requested whether or not Alahverdian would additionally face fees of faking his demise or warding off arrest. Government famous he have been in touch with FBI officers in Ohio via telephone and e mail as not too long ago as December 2019, pronouncing he used to be dwelling in Eire on account of its extradition insurance policies.
It’s now not transparent whether or not Alahverdian has a legal professional; an e mail searching for remark used to be despatched to the “Alahverdian Circle of relatives Place of business,” which had despatched a realize in 2020 about his funeral and memorial provider at a church in Windfall, Rhode Island.
Alahverdian had for years been an outspoken critic of Rhode Island’s Division of Youngsters, Adolescence and Households, attesting prior to state lawmakers about being sexually abused and tortured whilst in foster care.
In 2020, he advised native media retailers he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to are living, The Magazine reported.
An obituary revealed on-line claimed he died Feb. 29, 2020, however via ultimate yr, Rhode Island state police, Alahverdian’s former legal professional and previous foster circle of relatives had been publicly doubting whether or not he in fact died.