According to fire marshals, Mariano Barbosa Jr., the director of security at the Yotel on 10th Avenue and 42nd Street, set the fires in an attempt to make the hotels less popular and his job more manageable. Yotel said in a statement that it was cooperating with the Fire Department and the police.
– A New York City hotel security director didn't want to have to work so hard—so fire department sources tell the New York Daily News that he set fires to close down the very buildings he was protecting, so he could hang out in a comp room and drink. Mariano Barbosa, 30, has been arrested for alleged arson; court papers say Barbosa set his first fire at the Soho Grand Hotel, using bedding to fuel the fire. That was one of eight fires he allegedly set in four years of work at the Soho Grand and the Yotel, the New York Times reports; the fires were reportedly in halls, stairs, and exits, boosting damage. Fire officials tell the Times that Barbosa wanted to cut business at the hotels, thus making his job easier. "He desired that the incidents would be blamed on the clientele, and if that was the case maybe they would curtail the parties, and the venues would be more manageable," one official says. Interestingly, just last year, he got an award from the Yotel: a four-day trip to Las Vegas, his wife says. She says he would sleep in complimentary rooms in order to be there for the next shift. "This is a slap in the face," she says. "I don’t understand how all of the sudden he’s the bad guy."