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PROVO — Nicholas Rossi was a no-show for his initial court appearance in Utah County on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old Rossi, who was recently extradited from Scotland to face charges of rape and sexual battery in two cases in Utah County, "declined" to be moved from his holding cell at 4th District Court to Judge Derek Pullan's courtroom.
When the judge asked a sheriff's deputy if Rossi had given a reason for his refusal to attend the hearing, the deputy said he did not get one.
Pullan rescheduled Rossi's initial hearing for Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. He said if Rossi is not ill and does not have a reasonable excuse to miss the hearing, he will issue an order for him to be brought into the courtroom using a reasonable amount of force.
Tuesday's hearing was the latest episode of odd and unpredictable behavior during Rossi's scheduled court appearances. During his initial court hearing in Salt Lake City on Jan. 16, where he is also charged with rape, Rossi continued to claim that he was really Arthur Knight Brown, an Irish orphan, and used an Irish accent while speaking through medical equipment to help him breathe, claiming the allegations against him are "complete hearsay."
Rossi has allegedly used at least eight different aliases over the years, according to police.
He is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem in 2008. He was allegedly identified by the Utah State Crime Lab using DNA evidence and was charged in 2020. In his second Utah County case, he is accused of inappropriately touching and attempting to forcibly kiss a woman in Orem around the same time period.
After charges were filed in 2020, investigators learned of similar behavior from the same man in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts, and he had fled from the United States to avoid prosecution. In 2022, a man named Arthur Knight was arrested at a hospital in Glasgow. The man claimed to be an Irish orphan, but court officials in the United Kingdom ruled DNA and tattoos confirmed his identity as Rossi.
The Salt Lake County charges were filed in 2022 after a woman came forward after Rossi's attempts to fight extradition made headlines.
