In a development the Providence Journal inexplicably describes as “shocking,” Nicholas Alahverdian—f.k.a. “Arthur Knight,” f.k.a. “Nicholas Rossi,” etc.—admitted in a Utah courtroom on Wednesday that he has been lying about his identity for years. Not that this was ever very believable. See, e.g., “Suspect Claiming Mistaken Identity Says Someone Tattooed Him Without His Knowledge” (Nov. 15, 2022), and various followups. But Alahverdian now says he did this not to escape justice, but to protect himself after he started receiving death threats from Rhode Island state legislators because of his advocacy for children in that state’s child-welfare system.
So just to be clear, his story now is that he had to fake his own death, change his name, and flee the country to hide from Rhode Island legislators who wanted to kill him for trying to help children. This might actually be a better story than he was telling before, but that doesn’t make it good.
As a reminder, the defendant’s birth name is “Nicholas Alahverdian,” though he could also reasonably claim “Nicholas Rossi” because that’s the last name of his adoptive father. [NOTE: after I posted this, a reader chastised me for again “neglect[ing] to disclose that [Rossi’s] stepfather was a part-time Englebert Humperdinck impersonator.” And rightly so.] But the point is that he was going by “Rossi” when he allegedly raped a Utah woman in 2008, and seems to have started using “Alahverdian” again after he relocated to Rhode Island in hopes of being harder to trace. After that jig was up, he faked his own death, fled overseas, and started using a series of completely made-up names. He is back in Utah now after Scotland finally got fed up with him.
Asked to identify which of the dastardly Rhode Island legislators had threatened him with death, Alahverdian declined, saying “I don’t want to give a mouse cheese.” If you’re not sure what that means, neither was the prosecutor, who “paused for a moment” before asking how this would “give a mouse cheese.” Because it “would stoke the fire they’ve had to continue with their actions against me,” the mice’s alleged prey responded. “That’s why I haven’t gone public.”
The court then closed the hearing temporarily so Alahverdian could provide this sensitive information, which he may or may not have done. He did name, during the open session, two Rhode Island politicians who he claimed could corroborate his death-threat story, including state representative Raymond Hull. He even claimed he had continued to reach out to both men “routinely” after faking his own death and fleeing in 2020.
“No,” Hull told the Journal.
The defendant’s admission Wednesday confirms something his defense attorney said back in August, possibly by mistake. “Defense stipulates identity,” the public defender said then, appearing to startle the prosecutor, before adding, “For the purposes of this hearing.” But because the purpose of the hearing was to establish whether there was probable cause to believe her client was the one who committed the alleged crimes, her statement shortened that hearing considerably. Possibly for that reason, Alahverdian finally dropped the identity farce this week (replacing it with a new one).
The purpose of this more recent hearing was to determine whether the now-admitted Nicholas Alahverdian posed a flight risk, and so this hearing was also probably very short. His defense lawyer (now a different one) did his best, pointing out that Alahverdian now uses oxygen and a wheelchair—which I think is true at least to some extent—and would agree to electronic monitoring. The judge was unpersuaded. It turns out that if you have already fled at least three jurisdictions, faked your own death at least once, changed your name multiple times, and fought extradition for years, you may be denied bail.
According to the Journal, Alahverdian—or another person bearing a remarkable resemblance to him—will appear again today for a hearing on the other rape charge he’s facing, a hearing that is unlikely to improve his situation.