Officials: US fugitive faked death, found in UK with COVID

By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press

Authorities say a Rhode Island man believed to have fled the U.S. and faked his death to evade prosecution for rape and financial fraud has been apprehended in Scotland after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Authorities in Utah and Rhode Island say Nicholas Alahverdian was discovered after developing a serious case of the coronavirus and being placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Glasgow. The 34-year-old had been a vocal critic of Rhode Island’s child welfare system in recent years. He now faces extradition to the U.S. to answer to a rape charge in Utah.