A man accused of fraud for claiming he owned a luxury Manhattan hotel and lived rent-free for years has been found incompetent to stand trial, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Doctors who examined Mickey Barreto determined he was mentally incompetent to face criminal charges, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, a finding that prosecutors confirmed during a court hearing Wednesday. .
Judge Cori Weston gave Barrett until Nov. 13 to find appropriate inpatient psychiatric treatment, Bragg's office said.
The New York Times first reported that Barreto had been receiving outpatient treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues, but doctors said recent tests had cleared her from criminal proceedings. He concluded that he did not understand the situation.
Barreto dismissed allegations of a drug problem by some “related parties” and said prosecutors were seeking to have him hospitalized because there were no strong charges against him. He sees several benefits.
“We've gone from a brusque attitude of, 'He's a criminal,' to, oh, they don't talk about crime anymore. Now, the bottom line is, 'Oh, poor thing.' Finally, we convinced him to go for treatment,” Barrett told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
AP
Barrett's attorney, Brian Hutchinson, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. But at Wednesday's hearing, he said he would ask his client's current treatment provider to accept him, the Times reported.
In February, prosecutors indicted Barreto on 24 counts, including felony fraud and criminal contempt.
They allegedly forged a deed he gave the New Yorker Hotel purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to him.
He then attempted to charge rent from one of the hotel's tenants and requested that the hotel's bank account be transferred to him.
In 2018, Barreto argued in court that she had tenant rights because she paid about $200 for a night's stay, citing peculiarities in the city's housing law and the fact that the hotel did not send an attorney. I started living in a hotel in . Towards an important hearing.
Barreto said he was living in the hotel without paying rent because the building's owner, the United Church, never wanted to negotiate a lease with him, and could not legally evict him. spoke.
Now, his criminal case may be leading him into some kind of loophole.
“So if you ask me, is that a better thing? In some ways it is, because I'm not being treated like a criminal, I'm being treated like a freak,” Barrett said. told the Associated Press.
Built in 1930, the massive Art Deco building and its giant red “New Yorker” sign are a frequently photographed landmark in Midtown Manhattan.
Muhammad Ali and other famous boxers stayed here when they competed at nearby Madison Square Garden, about a block away. Inventor Nikola Tesla even lived in one of the more than 1,000 rooms for 10 years. And NBC was broadcasting from a terrace room.
However, the New Yorker closed as a hotel in 1972 and was used for church purposes for many years until parts of the building were reopened as a hotel in 1994.
