EXCLUSIVE: Former security manager accused of arson at two NYC hotel in charges dismissed

Charges were dismissed last week against a former security manager
accused of setting a series of blazes at two Manhattan hotels where he
worked.

Mariano Barbosa insisted he was innocent of causing mayhem at Yotel New
York and the SoHo Grand Hotel after prosecutors dropped the charges
Wednesday because they could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

His attorney Ryan Clark blamed fire marshals, saying their gumshoe work
was bogus.

“They did not crack the case, they extracted a confession and then
ceased the investigation,” Clark said.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss arson, reckless endangerment and criminal
mischief charges in Manhattan Supreme Court after a judge threw out
Barbosa’s confession on the basis that it was taken without him having
been properly read his Miranda rights, according to Clark.

The exhausted father of six, who was working two jobs at the time,
caved under pressure from fire marshal investigators and admitted to
crimes he didn’t commit, the lawyer said.

Clark had also obtained several sworn alibi statements from colleagues
who attested to Barbosa’s whereabouts when fires were set.

Authorities had accused Barbosa of creating eight fires at Yotel on
10th Ave. and the SoHo Grand on West Broadway between 2009 and 2013 “to
lighten his workload.”

Barbosa, 32, of Brooklyn, said at the time of his admissions he was
working two jobs and had no days off to support his six young boys,
including two who are autistic.

Since his arrest, he lost his FDNY license, which allowed him to serve
as a fire safety director, and he has been working other jobs for half
the pay.

He said the ordeal has been “like being on a roller coaster,” that his
father had a heart attack “due to a lot of stress” and that his
children are feeling the brunt of it.

“I haven’t been able to do what I usually do for them — working two
jobs,” he said. “We don’t get assistance like that.”

The FDNY and the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to
comment.