Stefan Alexandru Barabas, a Romanian national, has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for his role in a 2007 home invasion in Connecticut. The sentencing was announced by Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer delivered the sentence in New Haven.
Court documents reveal that on April 15, 2007, Barabas and accomplices Emanuel Nicolescu and Alexandru Lucian Nicolescu entered a South Kent home wearing masks and wielding knives and fake firearms. They restrained two adults, injected them with a substance claimed to be lethal, and demanded $8.5 million as ransom. Failing to obtain the money, they sedated the victims and fled in their Jeep Cherokee.
The vehicle was found abandoned at a Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York. Days later, an accordion case containing various items linked to the crime washed ashore in Jamaica Bay.
In 2010, investigators connected Michael N. Kennedy's car to the scene through partial license plate information provided by a witness. Kennedy had ties with Emanuel Nicolescu who had worked for one of the victims. Cell tower data placed Nicolescu near where the stolen Jeep was left.
The investigation showed that Barabas collaborated with his co-conspirators who planned and executed the crime using various tools including stun guns and imitation pistols. Kennedy drove them to the location near South Kent and picked them up after they abandoned the Jeep.
Barabas remained at large until his arrest in Hungary on August 16, 2022. He pleaded guilty on June 18, 2024, to conspiracy charges related to extortion.
Emanuel Nicolescu was arrested in Illinois in January 2011 and sentenced to twenty years following his conviction for attempted extortion among other charges. Alexandru Nicolescu was apprehended in November 2013 in the UK; he received over ten years imprisonment after pleading guilty to similar charges.
Kennedy returned voluntarily from Romania and pleaded guilty; he served four years following his sentencing.
The investigation involved collaboration between several law enforcement agencies including the FBI, Connecticut State Police, New York City Police Department along with international assistance from authorities in Hungary and the UK.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Novick prosecuted this case.