Copyright Salt Lake City Deseret News
A man convicted of raping women in both Salt Lake and Utah counties in 2008 before faking his death, fleeing the country and assuming a new identity was sentenced Tuesday to a term of five years to life in prison. A judge ordered that his sentence be served consecutive to an identical sentence he was given for a separate rape. Nicholas Edward Rossi, 38, was found guilty of rape by a jury in the 4th District Court in September for the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Orem in 2008. The two dated briefly but she broke up with him when he became controlling and stole money from her, the victim said while testifying at Tuesday’s sentencing. She was coerced into going back to his apartment to try to retrieve the money he owed her when he raped her. The initial investigation was dismissed after an Orem police sergeant claimed the woman and Rossi went to dinner after the alleged rape occurred, prosecutors said during the trial. Charges were refiled in Utah County in September 2020 after a rape kit from the woman was analyzed and connected to Rossi. In August, Rossi was convicted by a jury in Salt Lake County for the rape of a different woman he was in a relationship with for a month before they broke up as he “became very emotionally and verbally abusive.” For the Salt Lake case, Rossi was sentenced in that case to a term of five years to life in the Utah State Prison. Rossi’s defense attorney, Daniel Diaz, argued Tuesday the Utah County sentence should be served concurrently with the Salt Lake sentence since he has been in custody for a long time and he has significant health complications. Diaz argued if the sentences must be served consecutively, Rossi at least should be given credit for the time he has already served, which is “just shy of 42 months in custody.” Prosecutors requested his sentence be served consecutively and argued if Rossi is given credit for time served, it should only be counted from when he was in custody in Utah, as his time in Scotland custody was “his own making.” While both crimes were committed in 2008, it wasn’t until 2017 when a rape kit from the Utah County case was analyzed that Rossi’s DNA was linked to the case. At the time, he was being investigated for sexual allegations in Ohio and had police reports for sexual assaults in several different states, according to charging documents. Investigators also learned that Rossi had fled the country to avoid prosecution in Ohio and “attempted to lead investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased,” prosecutors said at the time. “Rossi was discovered to be living under an assumed name in Scotland.” Rossi was arrested at a Glasgow hospital after being treated for COVID-19. While awaiting extradition to Utah from Scotland, he was charged in 2022 with rape in Salt Lake County. Even after arriving in the United States, Rossi refused to acknowledge his identity and said the allegations against him were “complete hearsay.” Rossi’s identity was confirmed, however, by DNA and his tattoos. “He is a very smart man and he is able to talk his way out of almost anything and for 18 years, he did. Finally in Salt Lake he was held accountable. And this court was here, just a few months ago when he was held accountable again,” prosecutor Stephen Jones said. The judge decided the sentence would be served consecutive to his Salt Lake County sentence. Judge Derek Pullan recommended Rossi be given credit for the 663 days he has served in Utah custody. ‘Victimhood’ Despite his convictions and sentences, Rossi continues to deny that he did anything wrong. Rossi started off his statement during Tuesday’s sentencing quoting conservative writer George F. Will: “Victimhood is the new status symbol. ... Everyone needs to be a victim.” He went on to say, “I don’t have a lengthy statement full of flowery language and hyperbole. ... These women are lying and what they have done is unjust, unkind and not plausible in the eyes of the law.” Rossi said he plans to lodge an appeal for the sentence, something he intends to do in Salt Lake County as well. Before giving the sentence, the judge used Rossi’s quote against him. “Mr. Rossi, if victimhood is the new status symbol, then it was a status that you falsely claimed for yourself in an effort to avoid conviction. It is a status rightfully claimed by (the victim) and many others, not by choice, but because you forcefully raped her,” Pullan said. Pullan acknowledged that Rossi was raised in a “very abusive home” and had many adverse childhood experiences. Yet, he “accepts absolutely no responsibility” for his criminal conduct. “Rossi sought to thwart the truth seeking function of the courts by misrepresenting his identity during extradition,” he said. “The jury heard evidence, it found facts and ascertained the truth about your criminal conduct.” Lifelong impacts Both of the women he was convicted of assaulting addressed the court at the Salt Lake County and Utah County sentencing hearings. They expressed how fearful they still are of Rossi. “Nicholas Rossi is not a man who simply made a mistake. His behavior reflects a deeper pattern, one of manipulation, deceit and narcissism,” the Utah County victim said. The woman said she has struggled with anxiety and trust ever since the assault. She has “often felt unheard, doubted and isolated” from the assault and has spent countless hours in therapy trying to “reclaim a sense of safety.” She testified that Rossi is beyond the point of rehabilitation and he still poses a threat unless he is removed from society entirely. “I knew I needed to come forward not for myself but for the sheer number of victims he has hurt and the threat he continues to pose to society,” she said. “Justice in this case is not just about punishing one act, it’s about stopping a pattern.” The woman from the Salt Lake case said the assault “devastated” her life and her “mind, body, family and future were torn apart in a single catastrophic moment.” “It stole who I was. I used to be open, trusting and joyful. I now mistrust instinctively,” she said. “The path I expected to follow, the person I’ve wanted to be, was erased.” The woman said she is worried Rossi will retaliate against anyone who spoke out against him throughout the legal proceedings and she begged the court to sentence him to the fullest extent to prevent more lives from being “shattered.” “There should’ve been nobody after me that this happened to. I’m gonna have to carry that guilt for the rest of my life that there were victims after me,” she said.
