This week, a 38-year-old man from Connecticut acknowledged his involvement in a house invasion in which he gave two victims injections of what he said was a deadly illness and threatened to leave them to die unless they paid millions of dollars for the antidote.
The home invasion fake virus schemer, Stefan Alexandru Barabas, is originally from Romania. He entered a guilty plea when he appeared in U.S. District Court in Connecticut on Tuesday, according to the authorities.
A Department of Justice news release states that on April 15, 2007, just before midnight, Barabas and his accomplices, Emanuel and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu, broke into a house in South Kent, Connecticut, while wearing masks. The three males were displaying blades and what looked like real Airsoft weapons.
In the unusual case, Emanuel and Alexandru Nicolescu were found guilty of felonies, as was a fourth accomplice, Michael N. Kennedy, who arranged for transportation to the South Kent residence and then picked up the three men.
“The men bound and blindfolded two adult victims and injected each with a substance the intruders claimed was a deadly virus,” according to the release. “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.”
About 65 miles southwest of South Kent, in a parking lot in New Rochelle, New York, the stolen Jeep was discovered abandoned the following morning.
A week or so following the home invasion, an accordion case washed up on Long Island’s western point, along the shore of Jamaica Bay.
Authorities found a black plastic Airsoft gun, a 12-inch knife, a stun gun, crowbars, syringes, sleeping tablets, latex gloves, and a laminated phone card with the victims’ South Kent address inside the case, according to the DOJ.
Three years or so later, a Connecticut State Police detective was able to link a car registered to Kennedy that night with a partial Pennsylvania license plate. Then, the investigators learned that Kennedy had previously shared a residence with Emmanuel Nicolescu, who had worked for one of the victims of the home invasion.
Read Also:Â Tragic Stabbing at I-80 Rest Stop in Nebraska: Elderly Man Killed, Wife Injured
Data from cellphones showed that Emmanuel Nicolescu had called from the same place where the stolen Jeep was left behind at the same time. After that, his DNA was compared to that found in the pilfered car.
A significant aspect of the investigation was also the accordion case, especially once it was discovered that Kennedy’s father was a paid accordion player. Furthermore, the knife in the accordion case was subsequently recognized by witnesses as a present from Emanuel Nicolescu’s father-in-law.
“The investigation revealed that Emanuel Nicolescu and Kennedy worked with Barabas and Alexandru Nicolescu to commit the crime,” the DOJ stated. “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 entered a guilty plea to a single count of conspiring to extort money in order to obstruct commerce; this offense carries a maximum 20-year federal prison sentence. In the event that the court accepts the terms of a legally binding plea deal, he has consented to a sentence of 72–84 months.
In the past, Emanuel Nicolescu entered a guilty plea to charges of attempted extortion, conspiring to conduct extortion, and having a stolen car. He received a 240-month sentence.
Read Also: Man in New York City Was Taken Into Custody, Charges of Raping a 13-year-old Girl
Alexandru Nicolescu was given a 121-month sentence after entering a guilty plea to attempted extortion and conspiracy to conduct extortion.
Kennedy entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to conduct extortion and attempted extortion. He received a 48-month sentence.
