New details have emerged about a gruesome home invasion in which the ex-wife of a Texas billionaire and her artist boyfriend were injected with a substance they were told was a deadly virus, while a fourth man involved in the crime was arrested. pleaded guilty this week.
Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 38, admitted in court to breaking into the Connecticut home of socialite Anne Bass and holding her and her boyfriend, artist Julian Lethbridge, for ransom in 2007.
Prosecutors say Barabas and his accomplices – Emanuel Nicolescu, Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu and Michael Kennedy – wore masks, brandished fake knives and guns and tied up and blindfolded Bass and Lethbridge just before midnight on April 15, 2007.
They then injected the two with a substance they claimed was a “deadly virus,” saying they would withhold the antidote unless Bass, a well-known philanthropist and ex-wife of Texas oil magnate Sid Bass, paid the suspects 8, 5 million dollars. according to the Department of Justice.
Stefan Alexandru Barabas, 38, pleaded guilty to taking part in a gruesome 2007 home invasion.
The men told their victims they only had 20 hours to present the cash, holding them hostage for more than five hours while Bass’s three-year-old grandson slept in a separate room. reports the Hartford Courant.
Lethbridge attempted to tell the men that Bass did not keep that much money inside the house and would have to contact out-of-state associates to obtain the money.
At one point, the attackers considered transporting one or both victims to New York to obtain cash, according to an arrest warrant.
However, over time the men became concerned about the boy’s presence inside the house, the health of his victims, and his apparent inability to obtain the money immediately.
They then gave the victims a drink which they claimed was the antidote, but was actually sleeping pills.
While the victims fell asleep, the attackers stole Bass’s Jeep Cherokee and drove away.
Their vehicle was found the next day outside the Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York, while Bass and Lethbridge were treated at a nearby hospital and discovered that the substance they were injected with was harmless.
An accordion case also washed ashore in Queens, New York, six days after the home invasion, containing a stun gun, a knife, an Airsoft gun, a crowbar, syringes, sleeping pills, gloves and a phone card. with the victims’ address inside.
Barabas and three co-defendants held Anne Bass and her boyfriend Julian Lethbridge for ransom inside Bass’s sprawling Connecticut home.
For three years, the investigation into the horrific crime was stalled.
Then in 2010, a Connecticut State Police investigator connected a partial Pennsylvania license plate seen by a witness near the victim’s sprawling estate to a car owned by Michael Kennedy, who had once shared an apartment with Emmanuel Nicolescu. a former steward of the Bass estate.
The investigator would discover that data from a cell tower near the New Rochelle Home Depot, where the truck was found, contained a call made by a number registered to Emmanuel.
State Police and FBI investigators then gathered Emmanuel’s DNA and found it partially matched a sample from the Jeep’s steering wheel.
The investigation began to unravel when investigators realized that Kennedy’s father was a professional accordion player, and a witness identified a knife in the accordion case as a gift his father-in-law had given Emmanuel.
Prosecutors now say Barabas’ accomplices planned the home invasion, which included research and creating a list of needed supplies, such as two-way radios, stun guns and imitation guns.
Barabas and Nicolescus then carried out the crime, while Kennedy acted as the driver.
The four men held the victims for five hours inside the sprawling estate, while Bass’s three-year-old grandson slept in another room.
Emanuel Nicolescu was eventually arrested in 2011 in Illinois and found guilty by a jury months later.
Meanwhile, Kennedy voluntarily returned to the United States from Romania in 2012 and Alexandru Nicolesco was arrested in 2013 in the United Kingdom. Both pleaded guilty to his role in the home invasion.
Barabbas, however, had been on the run until his arrest in Hungary in August 2022.
He now faces 72 to 84 months behind bars for conspiracy to interfere with commerce by racketeering, according to a plea agreement.
But if a judge does not accept that plea deal, Barabas could spend up to 20 years in prison.
He is now detained, awaiting sentencing on September 11.
