Current:Home > BackMasked intruder pleads guilty to 2007 attack on Connecticut arts patron and fake virus threat-LoTradeCoin
Masked intruder pleads guilty to 2007 attack on Connecticut arts patron and fake virus threat
View Date:2025-01-11 01:07:43
The last of three masked men pleaded guilty to a failed attempt to extort $8.5 million from a wealthy Connecticut arts patron and her companion by threatening them with a deadly virus in a 2007 home invasion.
The 38-year-old Romanian citizen, Stefan Alexandru Barabas, had been on the run for about 15 years before finally being arrested as a fugitive in Hungary in 2022. He pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, federal prosecutors announced.
Barabas is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11 and could receive six to seven years in prison, if a plea agreement is accepted by the court, prosecutors said.
Three additional men in the case have already been convicted, including the two other masked intruders who prosecutors said entered the home in South Kent with Barabas brandishing fake guns. The men then bound and blindfolded millionaire philanthropist Anne Hendricks Bass and abstract artist Julian Lethbridge, injected them with a substance they claimed was a deadly virus and demanded the couple pay the $8.5 million or else be left to die.
After it became clear Bass and Lethbridge weren’t able to meet their demands, the men drugged the couple with a sleeping aid and fled in Bass’ Jeep Cherokee, prosecutors said.
The SUV was found abandoned at a Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York the next morning. Days later, an accordion case with a stun gun, 12-inch knife, a black plastic replica gun, a crowbar, syringes, sleeping pills, latex gloves and a laminated telephone card with the South Kent address was found washed ashore in Jamaica Bay, New York.
The accordion case and knife were eventually connected to the men, as well as a partial Pennsylvania license plate seen by a witness near Bass’ estate on the night of the home invasion, among other evidence.
Bass, credited with helping to raise the profile of ballet in the U.S., died in 2020. She was 78.
A message was left seeking comment from Lethbridge with a gallery that has shown his artwork.
In 2012, during the trial of Emanuel Nicolescu, one of the intruders and Bass’ former house manager that she had fired, Bass tearfully described thinking she was going to die the night the three men burst into the home she shared with Lethbridge.
Bass said she was taking care of her 3-year-old grandson that weekend and had just put the boy to bed when the break-in occurred, according to news reports.
“I heard war cries, a terrifying sound. I saw three men, dressed in black, charging up the stairs, almost like they were in military formation,” she testified.
She said the intruders then grabbed her, threw her onto the floor and tied up both she and Lethbridge. The men then injected the couple with a substance that turned out to be a benign liquid, according to news reports. Bass said the men had guns and knives but she never saw their faces during the hours-long ordeal.
Bass testified how she was traumatized for months by the attack, noting how she and Lethbridge had previously enjoyed spending weekends at the countryside home.
“Before the home invasion,” she said, “I felt quite comfortable being there by myself. I can’t stay there by myself anymore.”
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Police cruiser strikes and kills a bicyclist pulling a trailer in Vermont
- Amy Schumer Honors Women Killed in Trainwreck Movie Theater Shooting on 8th Anniversary
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $250 Crossbody Bag for Just $59
- Shop Deals on Activewear as Low as $9 at Nordstrom Clear the Rack Sale: Nike, Adidas, Skechers & More
- Stock market today: Asian shares meander, tracking Wall Street’s mixed finish as dollar surges
- Indulge in Self-Care With a 47% Off Deal on the Best Kopari Beauty Products
- Beat the Heat With These 19 Hacks To Make a Sweaty Commute Much More Tolerable
- You'll Flip Over How Shawn Johnson's Daughter Drew Reacted to Mom's Pregnancy
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- RHOA Alum NeNe Leakes' Son Bryson Arrested on Felony Drug Possession Charges
Ranking
- When do new 'Yellowstone' episodes come out? Here's the Season 5, Part 2 episode schedule
- NASA's mission to purposely collide with asteroid sent 'swarm of boulders' into space
- This $30 Deal on an $80 Soniclean Electric Toothbrush Will Give You Reasons To Smile
- Doja Cat Argues With Fans After Dissing Their Kittenz Fandom Name
- What happens to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction? Here are a few ways it could go
- Jamie Lynn Spears Details How Public Scrutiny Over Britney Spears Drama Impacted Her Teen Daughter
- 3 injured in shooting outside Philadelphia bar, police say
- Dylan Sprouse and Barbara Palvin Reveal 2nd Wedding in the Works
Recommendation
-
California farmers enjoy pistachio boom, with much of it headed to China
-
Cheyenne Floyd Reveals Angry Teen Mom Fans Have Shown Up to Her House
-
In Oregon Timber Country, a Town Buys the Surrounding Forests to Confront Climate-Driven Wildfires
-
Madison Beer Claps Back at Body Shamer Saying She's Getting Fatter
-
NBPA reaches Kyle Singler’s family after cryptic Instagram video draws concern
-
Feel Free to Salute These Secrets About Saving Private Ryan
-
Inside Gisele Bündchen's Birthday Girls' Trip With Daughter Vivian and Twin Sister Patricia
-
Why Oscar De La Hoya Says He Let Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler Raise Daughter Atiana