If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
PROVIDENCE, RI — A Utah judge on Oct. 20 sentenced a Rhode Island conman accused of faking his death and fleeing the United States to five years to life in prison for the rape of a 26-year-old Salt Lake County woman in 2008.
A jury in Salt Lake County found Nicholas Alahverdian, 38, guilty of the first-degree felony rape on Aug. 13 following a three-day trial, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. Alahverdian's conviction stems from charges that he raped his then-girlfriend, a woman whom he had met online, according to prosecutors.
Shortly after the two began dating, prosecutors said Alahverdian told the woman they should get married, and they purchased wedding rings. But Alahverdian soon became verbally and emotionally abusive, prosecutors said.
An argument at a shopping mall turned violent, and when the couple returned to Alahverdian's apartment, he refused to let the woman leave and then raped her, according to prosecutors.
