Hotels With Ocean Views VA|"Times Square Hotel Security Chief Arrested For Setting Arson Fires"

Source              :    nydailynews.com
Category         :    Hotels With Ocean Views VA
By                   :    THOMAS TRACY 
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Hotels With Ocean Views VA

When the hotel security director needed a break, he set things ablaze, authorities said. Mariano Barbosa, 30, who was the director of security — and according to his wife the fire safety director —- for the swanky Yotel hotel near Times Square set a series of blazes that shut down the building for days, freeing him to get liquored up on the job in guest rooms, FDNY sources said Saturday. City fire marshals arrested Barbosa, of West New York, N.J., on Friday, charging him with setting five small rubbish blazes in the hallways, stairwells and emergency exits at the Yotel on 10th Ave. over the past two years. It was unclear if he had the same perk at the Soho Grand, but the source said the small fires would also temporarily close the bars and nightclubs inside the hotels — reducing Barbosa’s work load considerably. He also had a bit of a mean streak, according to officials, who claim that some of the fires were set to “bring negative attention to the hotels and their nighttime crowds.”

Before that, he allegedly set three fires at the Soho Grand Hotel on West Broadway — where he worked as a security guard between 2009 and 2010 — including one just before 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day that brought revelers’ celebrations to an early close. An FDNY source said Barbosa set the fires knowing the hotel would then be shut down for repairs, giving him a working vacation. “He started the fires to lighten his work load,” the source told the Daily News. “Security directors get comp rooms at the hotel. After the fires, the hotel would be shut down for repairs and he would be in his comp room, boozing it up.”Barbosa’s wife rushed to his defense, describing her husband as a conscientious worker so devoted to the job that he was named the Yotel’s 2012 manager of the year.He was not only the hotel’s security director, but he also was its fire safety director, she said. The couple has three boys under the age of 9, two of whom are autistic.

“He even sleeps at the hotel so he can be there for work,” Leslie Martinez, 27, said before Barbosa was arraigned on arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment charges early Sunday. “I don’t understand why they say he’s the bad guy.”FDNY sources said Barbosa would light newspapers to set the rubbish fires late at night or early in the morning while he was on duty. No one was injured in the blazes. Fire marshals arrested Barbosa after he allegedly gave inconsistent statements to investigators. “His story wasn’t matching up,” the source said. “The marshals pressed him further and he admitted to setting the fires so he could clear out the club and that the hotel would be closed for a few days. ... He was still coming to work but had nothing to do.” Wearing a dark navy suit and a white dress shirt, Barbosa was ordered held on $50,000 bail. Manhattan prosecutors asked for $20,000, but the arraignment judge upped the request. Barbarosa’s defense attorney downplayed the charges, claiming that investigators had no video showing him setting the fires. His wife was bawling outside the courtroom after the arraignment and being consoled by her brother. 

Source:nydailynews.com/new-york/times-square-hotel-security-chief-arrested-setting-arson-fires-sources-article-1.1463370