Stefan Alexandru Barabas (FBI)
A 38-year-old man in Connecticut this week admitted to his role in a home invasion during which he injected two people with what he claimed was a deadly virus and demanded they pay millions for the antidote or be left to die.
Stefan Alexandru Barabas, a Romanian native, appeared in U.S. District Court in Connecticut on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to his role in the home invasion faux-virus scheme, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Department of Justice, shortly before midnight on April 15, 2007, Barabas and his accomplices — Emanuel Nicolescu and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu — wore masks when they broke into a home in South Kent, Connecticut. All three men were brandishing knives and Airsoft guns that appeared to be real firearms.
Emanuel and Alexandru Nicolescu were both convicted of felonies in the bizarre case, along with a fourth accomplice, Michael N. Kennedy, who provided the transportation to the South Kent home and picked the three men up afterward.
“The men bound and blindfolded two adult victims and injected each with a substance the intruders claimed was a deadly virus,” the release states. “The intruders ordered the victims to pay $8.5 million or else they would be left to die from the lethal injection. When it became clear that the victims were not in position to meet the intruders’ demands, the intruders drugged the two residents with a sleeping aid and fled in the homeowner’s Jeep Cherokee.”
The stolen Jeep was found abandoned the next morning in a parking lot in New Rochelle, New York, which is about 65 miles southwest of South Kent.
About a week after the home invasion, an accordion case washed up on the shore of Jamaica Bay, on the western tip of Long Island. Inside the case, authorities recovered a stun gun, a 12-inch knife, a black plastic Airsoft gun, a crowbar, syringes, sleeping pills, latex gloves, and a laminated telephone card with the South Kent address of the victims, the DOJ said.
About three years later, an investigator with the Connecticut State Police was able to connect a partial Pennsylvania license place from the night of the home invasion with a car registered to Kennedy. The investigators then discovered that Kennedy had formerly lived with Emmanuel Nicolescu, who had previously been employed by one of the home invasion victims.
Cellphone data revealed that Emmanuel Nicolescu had made a call at the same time and from the same location where the stolen Jeep was abandoned. His DNA was then matched to DNA recovered from the stolen vehicle.
The accordion case also played a critical role in the investigation, particularly after investigators learned that Kennedy’s father was a professional accordion player. Additionally, witnesses later identified the knife in the accordion case as a gift given to Emanuel Nicolescu by his father-in-law.
“The investigation revealed that Emanuel Nicolescu and Kennedy worked with Barabas and Alexandru Nicolescu to commit the crime,” the DOJ said. “Barabas’ co-conspirators planned the home invasion, which included the research and purchase of implements necessary for the crime, such as two-way radios, stun guns and imitation pistols. On the night of April 15, 2007, Kennedy drove Barabas, Emanuel Nicolescu, and Alexandru Nicolescu to a location near the South Kent home, and then picked them up the following morning in New Rochelle at the location where the intruders abandoned the stolen Jeep.”
Barabas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, which has a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Under the terms of a binding plea agreement, he’s agreed to a sentence of between 72 months and 84 months, if the agreement is accepted by the court.
Emanuel Nicolescu previously pleaded guilty to attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and possession of a stolen vehicle. He was sentenced to 240 months.
Alexandru Nicolescu pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and was sentenced to 121 months.
Kennedy pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion. He was sentenced to 48 months.
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