SNARED fugitive Nicholas Rossi has rejected a plea deal over a rape charge in the US.
The fantasist, 37, who faked his own death then fled to Scotland, will now face trial in September after claims he targeted a woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008.
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During a brief hearing on Tuesday, Rossi’s lawyer told the judge that settlement discussions concerning an allegation dating back to 2008 in Utah County “haven’t been fruitful”.
In response Judge Derek Pullan ordered that the agreed trial scheduled for September 15 should go ahead.
Rossi, who claimed to be an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight when he was captured in Scotland, was extradited to his homeland last year following a lengthy court process where he was said to be “making a mockery” of our justice system.
The beast was also wanted by the FBI over claims he racked up a $250,000 debt on credit cards he fraudulently obtained using his step-parents’ names.
On Tuesday Rossi, who appeared in a wheelchair holding an oxygen tank by prison videolink, was ordered to attend court when the case next hears in March.
We told how the fugitive, who used around 16 other aliases, was first arrested in 2021 at a Glasgow hospital.
It followed an international manhunt after a court ruled he faked his own death and fled.
During an identity hearing he told the court that he had had his arms tattooed whilst he was in a coma after contracting coronavirus.
But in November 2022 Sheriff Norman McFadyen ruled that he was Nicholas Rossi, describing his mistaken identity claims as “implausible” and “fanciful”.
An order granting Rossi’s extradition to the US was signed by Scotland’s justice secretary in September 2023, and he was flown back to America in January 2024 after losing his final appeal.
During a bail hearing in Salt Lake City last October, Rossi admitted for the first time that he and the alias Arthur Knight were the same person.
He denied fleeing to the UK to escape arrest, claiming that he had left the country and later used the alias in order to escape threats.
Rossi is also facing trial in April accused of a separate rape allegation in neighbouring Salt Lake County also dating back to 2008.
He has denied the charges.