Stefan Alexandru Barabas, a Romanian national, has admitted to his role in a 2007 Connecticut home invasion where he injected victims with a fake virus and attempted to extort $8.5 million for an antidote. The Justice Department detailed the case in a press release on Tuesday.
Barabas, 38, and his accomplices Emanuel and Alexandru Nicolescu, invaded a Connecticut home armed with knives and fake guns. They tied up and blindfolded two victims before injecting them with a substance they claimed was a lethal virus. The assailants demanded millions in exchange for the antidote. When the victims couldn’t meet their demand, the criminals drugged them with a sleep aid and stole their vehicle.
The vehicle was later found abandoned in New York. An accordion case linked to the crime, containing various tools and weapons, was discovered in Jamaica Bay six days after the incident.
In 2010, a detective connected a partial license plate seen near the crime scene to Michael Kennedy, a previous roommate of Emanuel Nicolescu and an acquaintance of the victims. Cell tower data placed Nicolescu near the home on the night of the invasion. DNA from the stolen vehicle’s steering wheel further implicated the suspects.
After fleeing the country, Emanuel was arrested upon his return to the U.S. in 2011. Michael Kennedy, also known as Nicolae Helerea, voluntarily returned from Romania and pleaded guilty to extortion charges in 2012. Alexandru was arrested in the UK in 2013, and Barabas was apprehended in Hungary in 2022.
Barabas’ sentencing is scheduled for September 11, where he could face up to seven years in prison.
