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Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 38, was part of a group that terrorized two residents in a scheme that seemed straight out of a nightmare. Just before midnight, Barabas and his accomplices — Emanuel Nicolescu and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu — broke into a South Kent home wearing masks and wielding knives and fake guns, the US Attorney for Connecticut said.
They tied up and blindfolded two adults, injecting them with a substance they claimed was a “deadly virus.” The intruders threatened to let them die unless they paid $8.5 million, authorities continued.
When the victims couldn’t meet their demands, the group drugged them with sleeping pills and fled in a stolen Jeep Cherokee. The vehicle was abandoned in New Rochelle, New York, the next day.
Investigators later uncovered crucial evidence, including an accordion case full of weapons and tools used in the crime, which washed ashore in Jamaica Bay the day after they ditched the Jeep. A witness and DNA evidence ultimately led to Barabas and his co-conspirators, the prosecutor said.
Barabas fled the country but was arrested in Hungary in 2022. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and has remained detained since.
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