New Yorker Hotel resident took advantage of unclear local housing laws, prosecutors say – NBC New York

Man accused of fraud claiming to own The iconic Manhattan hotel where he lived rent-free for years was deemed unfit to stand trial, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Doctors who examined Mickey Barreto found him mentally incompetent to face criminal charges, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, and prosecutors confirmed the findings at a court hearing Wednesday.

Judge Corey Weston gave Barreto until Nov. 13 to find appropriate inpatient mental health care, Bragg’s office said.

Barreto had been receiving outpatient treatment for substance abuse and mental health problems, but after a recent examination, doctors concluded he did not fully understand the criminal proceedings, the New York Times reported. reported.

Barreto denied allegations that some partygoers had a drug problem and said prosecutors were trying to hospitalize him because they had no hard evidence against him. He does see some growth potential.

“It went from an unfriendly, ‘He’s a criminal,’ to, ‘Oh, they don’t talk about crimes anymore.’ Now the main thing is: “Oh, poor thing.” Finally, we convinced him to go for treatment,” Barreto told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Brian Hutchinson, Barreto’s lawyer, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. But during Wednesday’s hearing, he said he plans to ask his client’s current physician to see him, the Times reported.

In February, prosecutors charged Barreto with 24 counts, including fraud and contempt of court.

They say he forged a deed for the New Yorker Hotel, purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to him.

He then attempted to collect rent from one of the hotel’s tenants and, among other things, demanded that the hotel’s bank transfer its accounts to him.

Barreto began living at the hotel in 2018 after arguing in court that he paid about $200 for a one-night stay and therefore had tenant rights based on quirks in the city’s housing laws and the fact that the hotel did not send an attorney. to the key hearing.

Barreto said he lived in the hotel without paying rent because the building’s owners Unification Churchthey never wanted to negotiate a lease with him, but they couldn’t legally kick him out either.

Now his criminal case may lead him to a loophole of sorts.

“So if you ask me if it’s better, in a way it is. Because they don’t treat me like a criminal, but like a crazy person,” Barreto told the AP.

Built in 1930, the huge Art Deco building with its huge red New Yorker sign is a frequently photographed landmark in downtown Manhattan.

Muhammad Ali and other famous boxers stayed here when they fought at nearby Madison Square Garden, about a block away. Inventor Nikola Tesla even lived in one of the building’s more than 1,000 rooms for ten years. And NBC was broadcasting from his room on the terrace.

But the New Yorker closed as a hotel in 1972 and was used for church purposes for years before part of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994.