Romanian man pleads guilty to role in home invasion at CT estate of multimillionaire philanthropist
A Romanian man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to his role in an elaborate home invasion in 2007 involving a plot in which a multimillionaire philanthropist and her boyfriend were told they had been injected with a deadly virus and would need to pay millions of dollars or be left to die.
Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 38, appeared in federal court in New Haven where he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, though the attorney representing Barabas and federal prosecutors have agreed on a sentence between 72 and 84 months, officials said.
According to officials, the charge he pleaded guilty to stems from a brazen home invasion at a Kent mansion owned by Anne Bass, the ex-wife of Texas oilman Sid Bass.
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Shortly after midnight on April 15, 2007, Barabas, Emanuel Nicolescu and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu reportedly entered a home wearing masks and brandishing knives and facsimile firearms. They bound and blindfolded Bass and her boyfriend Julian Lethbridge in the home, held them hostage for more than five hours and reportedly injected them with what they said was a deadly virus while Bass’s three-year-old grandson slept in a separate bedroom, court records show.
The intruders then reportedly told the Bass and her boyfriend they would need to pay $8.5 million or would be left to die from the injection, according to authorities. Once the home invaders realized that the victims were not in a position to give them that kind of money, they allegedly drugged them with a sleeping aid and stole their Jeep Cherokee, fleeing the area.
The stolen Cherokee was abandoned the next morning at a Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York.
Six days after the home invasion, an accordion case reportedly washed ashore in Jamaica Bay and was found to contain 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, officials said.
About three years later, an investigator with the Connecticut State Police connected a partial Pennsylvania license plate, seen by a witness near the victims’ residence the night of the home invasion, to a car owned by Michael N. Kennedy, according to officials. Kennedy was found to have formerly resided with Emmanuel Nicolescu, who was Bass’ former butler.
Using cell tower data near the New Rochelle Home Depot, authorities later found that a number registered to Emmanuel Nicolescu was used to make a call minutes after the Jeep was abandoned.
State police investigators and FBI later obtained Emanuel Nicolescu’s DNA and found that it partially matched a sample from the Jeep’s steering wheel, officials said.
Investigators also learned that Kennedy’s father was a professional accordion player and were able to get witnesses to identify the knife found in the washed up accordion case as one that had been gifted to Emanuel Nicolescu by his father-in-law, according to federal officials.
Authorities said the investigation revealed that Emanuel Nicolescu and Kennedy worked with Barabas and Alexandru Nicolescu to commit the home invasion.
Barabas’ co-conspirators planned the home invasion, which included the research and creating a list of supplies needed, which included things like two-way radios, stun guns and imitation pistols.
Officials allege that 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 where the stolen Jeep was abandoned, officials said.
Barabas, Emanuel Nicolescu, Alexandru Nicolescu and Kennedy fled the country during the investigation.
Emanuel Nicolescu later returned and was arrested in Illinois in January 2011, officials said.
Emanuel Nicolescu and Kennedy were charged by indictment in February 2011, and Barabas and Alexandru Nicolescu were charged by indictment in November 2012.
Barabas was a fugitive until his arrest in Hungary on Aug. 16, 2022.
On March 22, 2012, a jury in New Haven found Emanuel Nicolescu guilty of attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to federal officials. He was sentenced in August 2012 to 240 months in prison.
Alexandru Nicolescu was arrested on Nov. 14, 2013, in the United Kingdom. In January 2016, he pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and was later sentenced in May 2019 to 121 months in prison.
Kennedy, also known as Nicolae Helerea, a dual citizen of Romania and the U.S., voluntarily returned to the country from Romania. In November 2012, he pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion. He was sentenced in May 2016 to 48 months in prison.
Barabas is being detained while he awaits sentencing, which has been scheduled for Sept. 11.