The former Rhode Island con man Nicholas Alahverdian refused to attend a Tuesday court hearing in Utah, where a judge then ordered that “reasonable force” be used, if necessary, to compel him to appear next month.
The former fugitive and convicted sex offender who faked his death in 2020 is charged with two rapes and a third sexual battery stemming from alleged attacks he made on women he had dated briefly in 2008 in Orem and Salt Lake City.
Alahverdian refuses to appear on camera
Alahverdian was to make his initial appearance remotely from the Utah County Jail on one of the rape charges and the battery allegation. But his lawyer Lance Bastian told Fourth District Court Judge Derek Pullan that Alahverdian – who is charged under the name Rossi, his stepfather’s last name – inexplicably refused to come before the camera.
“Is he ill today?” asked the judge.
“That I do not know, your honor,” Bastian replied.
“He gave no reason for his failure to come down?”
“Not to me, but I can find out for you.”