Victims Told They Were Injected with 'Deadly Virus' During Terrifying Home Invasion, Suspect Pleads Guilty

"The intruders ordered the victims to pay $8.5 million or else they would be left to die from the lethal injection," authorities said of the case -- which is finally nearing a close after 17 years and many twists and turns.

A Romanian national pleaded guilty this week to his role in a 2007 home invasion, one in which the suspects allegedly threatened the victims with a faux "deadly virus."

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut , Stefan Barabas entered a guilty plea earlier this week to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. As part of his plea agreement, if accepted, he'll spend 72-84 months behind bars; his sentencing is set for September.

Barabas is one of four suspects apprehended for their alleged participation in a 2007 Connecticut home invasion.

Details of the Crime

Per a DoJ press release, citing court docs and court statements, Barabas, Emanuel Nicolescu, and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu broke into Anne Hendricks Bass' home with masks, knives and fake firearms -- before they bound and blindfolded Bass and her boyfriend.

The two were then injected "with a substance the intruders claimed was a deadly virus," before demanding the victims to pay $8.5 million "or else they would be left to die from the lethal injection," said authorities.

"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," read the release. A sentencing memorandum for Emanuel Nicolescu said Bass offered them a safe code, but warned it only contained jewelry and chocolate.

The victim's 3-year-old grandson was also home at the time of the attack, but was asleep and unharmed.

The 17-Year Investigation

The investigation spanned nearly two-decades, though some evidence was discovered almost immediately.

Just days after the break-in, an accordion case washed ashore in Jamaica Bay, New York containing 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.

In 2010, a partial license plate seen by a witness nearby on the night of the crime was connected to a vehicle owned by Michael Kennedy, who at one point, lived with Emanuel Nicolescu, the victim's former butler. Kennedy's father, meanwhile, was a professional accordion player, while a witness said the knife found in the case was a gift given to Emanuel by his father-in-law. DNA from Emanuel also came back as a match to a sample taken from the abandoned Jeep's steering wheel.

Per investigators, Emanuel and Alexandru Nicolescu, Barabas and Kennedy were co-conspirators for the home invasion, with Kennedy driving all four of them to a drop-off location near Bass' home and picking them up where they abandoned the Jeep the next morning. All four of them "fled the U.S. during the investigation," noted the press release.

Capture and Consequences

Emanuel Nicolescu was the first to be arrested in 2011, after he returned to the U.S. He was found guilty of attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and possession of a stolen vehicle in 2012, and sentenced to 240 months in prison.

Kennedy voluntarily returned to the U.S. from Romania and pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion in 2012. In 2016, he was sentenced to 48 months behind bars.

Alexandru Nicolescu, meanwhile, was arrested in the UK in November 2013, before pleading guilty to attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion in 2016. In 2019, he was sentenced to 121 months of imprisonment.

Barabas was a fugitive until he was arrested in Hungary in August 2022. As we mentioned above, he'll be sentenced in September after pleading guilty this week.