“…(the suspect) was the director of security — and according to his wife the fire safety director —- for the Yotel hotel near Times Square (and) 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…(he) 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, but the source said the small fires would also temporarily close the bars and nightclubs inside…the hotel would then be shut down for repairs, giving him a working vacation…”
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.
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.
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.