Mike Rossi, Accused Boston Marathon Cheater, Arrested After Punching Woman: Cops

ABINGTON, PA — Abington resident Mike Rossi, who rose to infamy after being accused of cheating in the 2015 Boston Marathon, has been arrested for punching a woman at a concert in Philadelphia, police said.

Rossi, 50, was arrested just after the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, according to authorities.

The circumstances surrounding the fight are unclear although police described it as a "domestic incident" in which Rossi struck a 47-year-old woman.

Rossi initially captured media attention when he wrote a letter to the principal of the school attended by his children, justifying their absence so that they could watch him run the Boston Marathon. Patch reported on the story: Abington Man’s Marathon Story Explodes Across The Internet.

However, the positive news was short-lived. The online running community, centered at LetsRun.com, said that Rossi's qualifying time for Boston, a 3:11 marathon ran at Lehigh Valley, was a wild outlier and that he had cheated. No pictures of him were found on the course. Race directors for Lehigh Valley were petitioned by LetsRun to have Rossi disqualified, but they said there was insufficient evidence. Rossi went on to run 4:01 at Boston. He has never approached 3:11 or an equivalent time in any other race.

The incident last weekend is not Rossi's first brush with the law. He was arrested in June of 2016 while tailgating a Kenny Chesney concert at Lincoln Financial Field.

Philadelphia Magazine first reported on Rossi's most recent arrest.

Image via Commons courtesy Iiagdtr (Philadelphia Police Department mugshot)