Man pleads guilty to 2007 Connecticut home invasion, attempted extortion using injected substance

By Kaila Nichols, CNN

(CNN) — A Romanian man has pleaded guilty to an extortion charge relating to a 2007 Connecticut home invasion in which he and two other men injected a wealthy couple with what they claimed was a deadly virus and demanded millions of dollars from them, the US Attorney for the District of Connecticut announced.

Stefan Alexandru Barabas, a 38-year-old citizen of Romania, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion before US District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer on June 18, according to a news release from the US attorney’s office.

The charge carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison, the release said. Under the terms of a plea agreement – which must be accepted by the court – prosecutors and the defense have agreed a sentence between six and seven years would be appropriate.

Barabas had fled the United States amid the investigation and was arrested in Hungary on August 16, 2022.

On the night of April 15, 2007, Barabas and two other men entered a home in South Kent, Connecticut, wearing masks and carrying knives and fake firearms, according to the news release, which cites court documents.

The men blindfolded and bound the home’s residents: millionaire philanthropist Anne Hendricks Bass and abstract artist Julian Lethbridge, the Associated Press reported.

The men injected them with a substance they said was a deadly virus and demanded a payment of $8.5 million, or said they would die.

“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 US attorney’s office news release said. The men abandoned the stolen Jeep at a Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York, the following morning.

In 2010, a Connecticut State Police investigator linked a partial Pennsylvania license plate seen by a witness near the home to a car owned by a Michael N. Kennedy.

Investigators then found Kennedy – also known as Nicolae Helerea – had previously shared an address with Bass’ former house manager, Emmanuel Nicolescu. Bass had fired Nicolescu, according to the AP.

An investigation revealed Nicolescu and Kennedy worked with Barabas and a fourth man, Alexandru Nicolescu, to commit the crime, the US attorney’s office said.

Barabas, Emanuel Nicolescu and Alexandru Nicolescu were the three who entered the home, according to the US attorney’s office. All four fled the United States during the investigation.

Emanuel Nicolescu and Kennedy were indicted in February 2011, and Barabas and Alexandru Nicolescu were indicted in November of 2012, according to the news release.

A jury found Emanuel Nicolescu guilty in 2012. Later that same year, Kennedy voluntarily returned to the US and pleaded guilty, the release said. Alexandru Nicolescu was arrested in the United Kingdom and pleaded guilty in 2016. All three were sentenced to varying prison terms.

Bass died in 2020 at age 78, the AP reported; she was credited with helping raise the profile of ballet in the US.

“This has been an extremely long and arduous process. I am grateful for the professionalism and dogged work of various law enforcement authorities to bring these individuals to justice,” Lethbridge said in a statement to the AP.

“That said, I remain convinced based on the sophistication of the crime, as well as other facts, that there are others who participated in the planning and financing of this crime who have yet to be brought to book,” he continued. “It is my continued hope that one day all who were involved will be known and that they too will be held to account.”

During Emanuel Nicolescu’s trial, Bass tearfully told the court she thought she was going to die that night, the AP reported. She said she was taking care of her 3-year-old grandson at the time and had just put him to bed.

“I heard war cries, a terrifying sound. I saw three men, dressed in black, charging up the stairs, almost like they were in military formation,” she testified, according to the AP.

Bass also said that she was left traumatized by the event.

“Before the home invasion,” she said, “I felt quite comfortable being there by myself. I can’t stay there by myself anymore.”

Barabas’ sentencing is scheduled for September 11. He has been detained since his arrest.

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