A Romanian national has pleaded guilty to charges related to a 2007 home invasion, during which he injected victims with fake poison and attempted to extort money from them, according to a Tuesday press release from the Justice Department.
Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 38, along with two accomplices named Emanuel and Alexandru Nicolescu, broke into a Connecticut home brandishing knives and fake firearms. The men tied up and blindfolded two victims, injecting them with a substance they falsely claimed was a deadly virus, the DOJ reported.
The men then demanded $8.5 million in exchange for the antidote to the fake virus. Upon learning that the victims were unable to meet this demand, the assailants drugged them with a sleep aid and left in the victims’ vehicle. (RELATED: Video Shows Homeowner Shooting At Burglars Pretending To Be Police In Break-In Attempt)
A Romanian man extorted $8.5 million from a Connecticut couple by injecting them with a fake virus in a bizarre home invasion involving masks, knives, and an abandoned Jeep. The ex-butler and his accomplices fled the U.S. but were later arrested, with… https://t.co/ksat7Qlr5R
— The America One News (@am1_news) June 19, 2024
The authorities found the abandoned vehicle in New York, and about six days later, the intruders’ accordion case washed ashore in Jamaica Bay. It contained a stun gun, knife, a plastic airsoft gun, a crowbar, syringes and a variety of other implements used to commit the crime, according to the DOJ.
Three years later, a Connecticut State detective discovered a link to a partial Pennsylvania license plate seen by a witness near the victims’ residence on the night of the home invasion. The car was owned by one Michael Kennedy, who previously lived with Emmanual Nicolescu, who in turn had worked for the victim, the press release noted.
By analyzing cell tower data, the detective found a call made by Nicolescu near the home on the night of the crime. The authorities later obtained the suspect’s DNA and matched it to the stolen vehicle’s steering wheel, the press release explained.
The three men fled the country, but Emanuel was arrested in 2011 after returning to the United States. Kennedy, a U.S.-Romanian dual citizen also known as Nicolae Helerea, “voluntarily returned to the U.S. from Romania and, on November 5, 2012, pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion,” according to the press release. Alexandru was arrested in the United Kingdom in 2013, while law enforcement caught up with Barabas in Hungary in 2022.
Barabas’ sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 11, according to the DOJ. He faces up to seven years in prison.
