Nicholas Alahverdian - Misplaced Pages

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Nicholas Alahverdian
Alahverdian in 2012
Born	(1987-07-11) July 11, 1987 (age 37)
Other names	Nicholas Rossi Nicholas Alahverdian Rossi Nicholas Edward Rossi Nicholas Alahverdian-Rossi Nick Alan Nicholas Brown Arthur Brown Arthur Knight

Nicholas Alahverdian (born July 11, 1987) also known as Nicholas Rossi, among other aliases is a convicted American sex offender who faked his own death in 2020 in an attempt to flee prosecution for fraud, and for failure to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island.

Alahverdian alleged that he suffered abuse and negligence in the Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF), Rhode Island's social service system. In support of this allegation, he unsuccessfully sued the DCYF in federal court in 2011, then voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit when Rhode Island waived his medical expenses debt of around $200,000.

In January 2020, Alahverdian said that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In February 2020, news outlets reported Alahverdian's death, citing his family's anonymous testimony and his obituary. The reports of his death were disputed, as they occurred after the FBI initiated a fraud investigation against him and issued a warrant.

In December 2021, he was discovered in a hospital in Scotland, while undergoing treatment for COVID-19. He was arrested on charges of an alleged rape in Utah in 2008, in addition to other alleged crimes. Efforts are being made to extradite him to the United States.

Biography

Alahverdian alleged his parents were "abusive and alcoholic" and "couldn't take care of him" leading to his placement in the care of the DCYF.

Alahverdian has alleged that for a period of 15 months beginning in March 2002 the DCYF placed him in their "night-to-night" program, in which a youth would spend his or her day at a DCYF building in Pawtucket and nights at one of several shelters around Rhode Island, including locations in Central Falls, Providence, Narragansett, or Woonsocket. Alahverdian said he did not attend school during this period. According to Alahverdian, the other youths stole his items and threatened and assaulted him during this period. The Providence Journal, in April 2012, described the night-to-night program as a "stifling" experience and said Alahverdian was "denied a substantial chunk of his childhood".

Alahverdian was hired as a legislative page in the Rhode Island House of Representatives at age 14. Alahverdian said that he informed lawmakers about his negative experience in DCYF care, but received no assistance. Brian G. Coogan, a Rhode Island Representative at the time, stated that he felt sorry for the teenage Alahverdian and took action to formally adopt him, but was warned off from doing so by Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah. Coogan said that Jeremiah predicted that Alahverdian "will try to undermine you and turn your family upside-down".

Alahverdian claims to have formed NexusGovernment, an organization to lobby for child welfare in 2002 at the age of 15. However, Alahverdian said that he quit the organization in March 2003. Additionally, The Providence Journal, reporting in 2011, stated that NexusGovernment was only "recently formed".

Local media reported that Alahverdian was sent by DCYF to Boys Town in Nebraska and Manatee Palms Youth Services in Florida in 2003. In a 2011 lawsuit filed against the Rhode Island DCYF, he testified that he was prohibited from contacting others, such as the media, attorneys, the state child advocate and his caseworker during this period. Alahverdian alleged that he was sent out of state because, in Rhode Island, he was "a source of information on DCYF". Rhode Island authorities stated that there were no records of Alahverdian being abused.

According to a DCYF spokesperson, they stopped using Manatee Palms Youth Services in 2005 due to "concerns we had with the way they were treating our kids". In 2005, Alahverdian was returned to Rhode Island, where he received treatment at Bradley Hospital for a two-week period. Afterwards, he was placed in an independent living program.

Alahverdian told WPRI that he was beaten "Everyday in Florida. Everyday in Nebraska. Everyday in Rhode Island," by other youths in DCYF programs. Alahverdian told WJAR that he suffered "torture, beatings, assault" and neglect under DCYF care, until 2005.

For a short period of time, Alahverdian studied comparative literature in extension program classes offered by Harvard University. He did not graduate, as in 2012, he was "administratively withdrawn" from the course when the university learned of his sex offender status. Despite this, Alahverdian claimed to be a "Harvard scholar, political scientist and sociologist".

After Alahverdian failed to overturn his sex offender conviction, he became a men's rights figurehead for by radicalized people who claim they are unable to get romantic or sexual partners despite desiring them, often referred to as incels.

In 2017, Alahverdian moved in to stay with a friend in Providence, Rhode Island. That friend later applied for a restraining order against Alahverdian, accusing Alahverdian of refusing to move out and cashing checks belonging to the friend.

Alahverdian eventually left the United States, settling in South Bristol, England with a woman called Miranda, whom Alahverdian married at some point. In early 2020, Alahverdian faked his death. In 2021, Alahverdian and Miranda moved to Glasgow, Scotland.

Child welfare advocacy

In March 2011, after meeting Alahverdian, state representative Roberto DaSilva submitted a proposal to further restrict DCYF from using facilities outside of Rhode Island; the proposal was also a cost-cutting measure. DaSilva credited Alahverdian's story as inspiration for his proposed legislation. The proposed legislation failed, so DaSilva re-submitted the proposal in January 2012; the result of this was not reported.

In February 2020, Rhode Island state representatives Ray Hull, John J. Lombardi, David Bennett, and James N. McLaughlin proposed an "Emergency Oversight Commission" to monitor DCYF, as advocated by Alahverdian. According to WPRI's reporting, if the legislation passed, nine state representatives would form a commission to investigate "unconstitutional or unethical procedures at DCYF that put children in harm's way", with a report to be published in May 2021. As of March 2020, Hull's proposed legislation had not been voted upon. Hull later said that Alahverdian had continually pressed him to introduce this legislation before Alahverdian's death, describing the process as being that Alahverdian would "just beat you down".

Former Rhode Island state representatives spoke in 2022 about their past experiences with Alahverdian. Brian G. Coogan described Alahverdian as "brilliant" but "dangerous", accusing Alahverdian of having "swindled a lot of people", by persuading some Rhode Island lawmakers to give him money, sometimes via threats of accusing them of rape and assault. Joanne Giannini said that Alahverdian continually asked her for money. After initially acceding to his requests, Giannini eventually told him to "get a job". This resulted in Alahverdian saying "so many horrible things" to her, "He knew how to hurt you with words. The whole thing really bothered me.”

Lawsuit against the DCYF

In February 2011, Alahverdian initiated a federal lawsuit against the DCYF, the states of Florida and Nebraska, six residential facilities, and 18 individuals, for alleged abuse committed against him. Among the individuals sued were Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri and Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah.

In August 2013, the federal lawsuit was settled by the parties, in exchange for Rhode Island waiving a more than $200,000 lien that was placed on any settlement proceeds from the lawsuit. The lien was for medical expenses incurred while he was in state foster care. The lawsuit concluded with the DCYF expressly denying any "liability or culpability regarding the allegations" according to the DCYF's deputy director Kevin Aucoin. Alahverdian acknowledged that he had released the state of Rhode Island and its government employees from liability. The court itself did not reveal details of the settlement. Alahverdian also agreed to dismiss two other lawsuits he had filed, one which accused DCYF of violating a confidentiality agreement, and another against state sheriffs.

Personal legal issues

In 2008 Alahverdian, under the name Nicholas Rossi, was charged with sexually assaulting a Sinclair Community College student in a stairwell and subsequently convicted of public indecency and sexual imposition. He filed a motion for a retrial based on a newly surfaced MySpace post allegedly written by the victim, which claimed that she had lied about the incident. A computer forensics expert testified "with 90% certainty" that the post had been altered or fabricated entirely. The motion for retrial was dismissed by the reviewing judge. In April 2013 he later tried to sue Sinclair Community College, Dayton Municipal Court, and multiple others in the Southern Ohio United States District Court for making "serious, life-altering false allegations" and claimed he was deprived of a jury trial. This suit was dismissed by judge Thomas M. Rose on August 12, 2013. Alahverdian in 2014 wrote an essay, My Personal 9/11, in which he named and blamed his victim for ruining his "goals and aspirations", comparing the victim's actions to the September 11 attacks.

In October 2015, Alahverdian was married for the second time. Seven months later, his wife moved to divorce him. A court ruled that Alahverdian was "guilty of gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty" towards his wife. Temporary restraining orders had been put in place against Alahverdian, which the court ruled that he violated by seizing "all of the marital household goods and furnishings from the marital residence". The divorce was made official in 2017, with Alahverdian owing his ex-wife $52,000 he borrowed to purportedly support a community service agency. The Providence Journal reported these events in January 2021.

Fraud investigations and reports

Shortly before he faked his death in early 2020, Alahverdian was aware that the FBI was investigating him for fraud, as reported by The Providence Journal in January 2021. His former foster mother, Sharon Lane, alleged that Alahverdian opened 22 credit cards under her husband's name, incurring almost $200,000 in debt.

According to Alahverdian's former lawyer, Jeffrey Pine, a former Rhode Island attorney general, Alahverdian had moved to Ireland by late 2019, which would hinder any attempt by the FBI to have him arrested as such an arrest would require "international cooperation". However, Alahverdian's actual location was unclear. Alahverdian told The Providence Journal that he and his family had moved to Quebec, Canada. A Rhode Island priest recounted that Alahverdian's purported widow stated Alahverdian had moved to Switzerland. State Rep. Raymond Hull of Rhode Island believed that Alahverdian's purported widow said that Alahverdian had moved to Ireland or Germany.

According to the Sunday Mail, after faking his death, Alahverdian allegedly posed as a marketing expert, in order to defraud Canadian businesswoman Nafsika Antypas of $40,000, by accepting her employment and salary of $100,000 per year, but failing to produce any results. Antypas said she hired Alahverdian (who was posing as Nicholas Knight-Brown) to promote her vegan lifestyle television series, Plant-Based by Nafsika. When Antypas ended their working relationship, Alahverdian allegedly sent her abuse and threats, and posted lies about her online, but eventually ceased contact in June 2020.

Sexual assault investigations

Utah investigators began an initiative to process a backlog of untested sexual assault kits. In 2017 an original kit from 2008 was revealed, in 2018, as a DNA match for a sexual assault in Ohio in 2008. The DNA from the Ohio incident (Nicholas Rossi) matched the DNA from the 2008 Utah case, suspected as Nicholas Rossi. An arrest warrant for Rossi/Alahverdian was issued in September 2020.

In 2022 a court document regarding the investigation of Alahverdian, by a Utah law enforcement officer, was released. The document noted police reports against Alahverdian in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Utah "involving criminal cases of sex assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping from 2007 through 2019."

One report in the document was provided by an ex-girlfriend of Alahverdian. She accused him of inviting her to his home in Orem, Utah in September 2008 on the pretext of repaying the money he owed her. He exposed himself to her, raped her, then accused her of being "mentally unstable and too emotional". After the attack, he attempted to prevent her from leaving, requiring her to escape when he was distracted.

The other cases reported showed a "consistent pattern of behavior" to the above incident, stated the Utah investigator, where Alahverdian was accused of starting "inappropriate contact", then he would "threaten suicide or will force a non-consensual sexual encounter", and later tell police "that the female is the aggressor".

Faked death

In January 2020, Alahverdian reported that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He provided this information to a number of media organizations. The Providence Journal later stated that Alahverdian "insisted" that they report his illness. A person claiming to be Alahverdian's widow later stated that his illness had lasted for "months", and included "heart disease" and "heart attacks". According to his family and his obituary, Alahverdian succumbed to the disease on February 29, 2020. The person claiming to be his widow said that Alahverdian would be cremated and his remains scattered at sea. She refused to provide copies of Alahverdian's death certificate to The Providence Journal.

Upon Alahverdian's purported death, WPRI reported that he had emigrated from the United States approximately four years earlier. Someone claiming to be his wife attributed this to "security concerns". Alahverdian's purported wife would not publicly reveal her identity or where the family had moved, citing threats.

Authenticity of death questioned

In July 2020, Rhode Island State Police investigated the authenticity of Alahverdian's death; no conclusion had been reached by January 2021. The investigation was triggered by allegations that Alahverdian was still alive, coupled with an outstanding warrant against Alahverdian as he was accused of failing to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island in relation to his 2008 conviction in Ohio.

Alahverdian's former foster mother, Sharon Lane, said that she had been approached by Alahverdian's biological mother in July 2020, who asked her to probe reports of his death. When Lane read the adulatory comments written in his obituary and memorials, she was convinced that the style of writing was Alahverdian's, and thus she concluded that he had faked his death. Alahverdian's former attorney Jeffrey B. Pine also expressed doubts concerning Alahverdian's death as the announcements of his illness and death came shortly after Alahverdian learned of the FBI's investigation against him. Alahverdian's purported widow denied that he had faked his death, stating that he had died in her presence.

In late 2020, the website Wikipediocracy raised issues about the accuracy of the Misplaced Pages article regarding Alahvedian. Michael Cockram, a Wikipediocracy blog team member, said that multiple Misplaced Pages accounts created by Alahvedian had edited the Misplaced Pages page after the date of his purported death, and that one of these accounts had tried to remove the image used to illustrate Alahvedian, replacing it with an image of another person. Cockram, who believed that Alahverdian was still alive, alleged that Alahverdian was now trying to take down the Misplaced Pages article about him, as well as remove any information that disputed his reported death.

On February 1, 2021, the The Providence Journal published a follow up to their investigative report of January 27, 2021, stating that they had received a "rambling", "often incoherent" 9-page email from someone stating they were Alahverdian's widow. The email leveled criticisms at several parties, such as the victim of his sexual offense, the police officer who took the sex offense case, the judge who oversaw it, and Alahverdian's former foster parents. They also reported that several months after Alahverdian's reported death, Father Bernard Healey, a priest at Our Lady of Mercy Church in East Greenwich, received a request for a funeral mass, from a woman claiming to be Alahverdian's widow. Shortly after arrangements were made, Father Healy was contacted by State Police Detective Conor O'Donnell who requested cancellation of the mass, stating that Alahverdian was alive and had faked his own death and was a fugitive from justice.

On February 22, 2021, Irish newspaper Sunday World reported they were unable to find a death certificate for anyone under his name in Ireland.

Arrest in Scotland

On January 12, 2022, The Providence Journal reported that an American man was arrested while receiving treatment for COVID-19 in Glasgow, Scotland, and was confirmed by the Rhode Island State Police to be Alahverdian. He was arrested at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on December 13, 2021, in reference to an alleged rape in Utah in 2008, among other alleged crimes. He was receiving treatment under the name Arthur Knight. Alahverdian was identified by observation of his tattoos, which matched police records for Rossi. Scarring on one arm suggested Alahverdian had tried to remove one of the tattoos.

On December 23, 2021, a bail hearing was held at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court where he participated by video link from the hospital. On January 20, 2022, Alahverdian was remanded into custody after his bail was revoked because he was considered to be a flight risk.

Rhodes Island state representative Raymond Hull, who served as a police officer for 34 years, reacted to Alahverdian's arrest by stating: "I've come across a lot of dishonest people in my profession, but I've never come across someone who would fake his own death." Hull additionally lamented how this "set back a bit" efforts to reform the DCYF.

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