Former Rhode Island representative speaks on experience with Nicholas Alahverdian
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Scottish judge decided Wednesday morning the Rhode Islander once known as Nicholas Alahverdian can be extradited back to the United States.
Alahverdian, who has gone by multiple aliases, was suspected of faking his own death and leaving the country.
Former Rep. Brian Coogan, who was close with Alahverdian, told ABC 6 News about his experience.
“I know Nick. I’ve known him for 22 years, plus, he’s dangerous — he told me one day, ‘If I could get your mother’s maiden name, and your date of birth, I could ruin you,'” Coogan said.
It’s been half a year since Alahverdian, operating under the alias of Arthur Knight, was tracked down in Scotland by the Utah Attorney General and other national police forces for two rape charges.
Alahverdian’s obituary said he died in Rhode Island back in 2020 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic treatment in Scotland, the International Criminal Police Organization identified that Knight was in fact Alahverdian.
A Scottish judge ruled that Alahverdian, also known as Nicholas Rossi and Arthur Knight, are all the same man — and according to those who knew him, a dangerous one.
“Don’t let him learn your information, don’t let him learn your mother’s maiden name, don’t let him learn your address, don’t let him learn your date of birth,” Coogan warned.
“He’s a con artist and he’s a registered sex offender — I mean that right there should tell you,” Coogan added.
Coogan told ABC 6 he was very close to Alahverdian when he was younger and nearly adopted him into his family, until someone warned him.
“He said, ‘Everything he told you is a lie, and everything that he said was being done to him, is actually being done to others by him.’ I said, ‘Really?” Coogan continued. “He said, ‘This kid’s a bad egg, that’s what he called him — exact words — ‘he’s a bad egg.’ If you take this kid into your home, he’s going to tip it upside down.'”
Coogan said they haven’t spoken since just before Alahverdian faked his death, but now that a Scottish judge has announced Alahverdian can be extradited back to the United States, Coogan believes the worst is yet to come.
“I truly believe, I truly believe we haven’t heard the worst yet. And I truly believe, I mean it’s been going on for decades, right? And I think we have another decade ahead of us, of what he’s done,” Coogan said.
The Scottish judge described Alahverdian in court as “dishonest, deceitful, evasive and manipulative.”
It’s now up to the ministers to decide whether or not to send Alahverdian back to the States.
If he is extradited, Alahverdian will face two rape charges in Utah, charges for failure to identify himself as a sex offender in Rhode Island, as well as fraud and other sexual assault related charges in Ohio.
