Nine more women accuse Nicholas Rossi of sexual assault

Nine more women from across the United States have come forward to accuse the conman and rapist Nicholas Rossi of sexual assault, according to prosecutors in Utah.

The allegations came to light on Tuesday as a judge handed the 38-year-old a second jail term.

Rossi faked his own death and adopted a false identity in Scotland in an attempt to evade rape charges.

However he was arrested in a Glasgow hospital almost four years ago, and later extradited back to the US.

He will spend at least the next decade behind bars.

At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday in Utah County, Judge Derek Pullan said Rossi was a serial sex offender whose “future dangerousness to others” was clear.

He added that the court had received letters from nine women claiming Rossi had sexually assaulted them.

On Wednesday, Deputy County Attorney Stephen Jones told STV News the letters were from women across the United States.

“I can’t prosecute crimes that took place in Ohio or Rhode Island or Florida or any other place like that,” he said.

“I am not aware of any other allegations of rape in Utah County. If any of them come up, then we would certainly look at that and see if it’s prosecutable.

“I have no problems prosecuting a case that’s 17 years old.”

Rossi’s most recent prison sentence came after he was found guilty of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in September 2008.

The court heard how Rossi had dated a woman for a short period. After splitting up, the woman visited his flat to ask for money that he owed her.

Rossi didn’t have the money and prevented his ex-girlfriend from leaving the flat, going on to rape her.

The investigation was initially dismissed, however, the rape kit was eventually retested in 2018, identifying Rossi as the assailant.

Mr Jones said her testimony during the trial, and her victim impact statement at Tuesday’s sentencing, were “wildly important”.

“She had reported it 17 years ago, and then nothing was done.

“When she was recontacted by Mr Coats [Utah investigator] many, many years later, maybe a decade later, she was reticent to participate until she found out about the other victim in Salt Lake and some of the other survivors.”

The Salt Lake City rape also occurred in 2008, when Rossi met his victim online – and they became engaged two weeks later.

The woman told the court she was living with her parents as she recovered from a car accident, which had left her with a traumatic brain injury, when she met Rossi online.

On Tuesday, the court in Utah County heard from both victims, who said Rossi’s crimes had destroyed their lives.

He will serve the two sentences consecutively at Utah Correctional Facility.

For more on all the twists and turns of this long-running story, watch Who is Nicholas Rossi on the STV News website.