Man who used legal loophole to live rent-free for years in New Yorker Hotel found unfit to stand trial

A man charged with fraud for claiming to own a storied Manhattan hotel where he had been living rent-free for years has been found unfit to stand trial, prosecutors said Wednesday.Doctors examining Mickey Barreto deemed he’s not mentally competent to face criminal charges, and prosecutors confirmed the results during a court hearing Wednesday, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.Judge Cori Weston gave Barreto until Nov.13.

to find suitable inpatient psychiatric care, Bragg’s office said.Barreto had been receiving outpatient treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues, but doctors concluded after a recent evaluation that he did not fully understand the criminal proceedings, the New York Times first reported.Barreto dismissed the allegations of a drug problem to some “partying,” and said prosecutors are trying to have him hospitalized because they did not have a strong case against him.He does see some upside.“It went from being unfriendly, ‘He’s a criminal,’ to oh, they don’t talk about crime anymore.

Now the main thing is, like, ‘Oh, poor thing.Finally, we convinced him to go seek treatment,’” Barreto told The Associated Press on Wednesday.Brian Hutchinson, an attorney for Barreto, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

But during Wednesday’s hearing, he said he planned to ask his client’s current treatment provider to accept him, the Times reported.In February, prosecutors charged Barreto with 24 counts, including felony fraud and criminal contempt.They say he forged a deed to the New Yorker Hotel purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to him.He then tried to charge one of the hotel’s tenants rent and demanded the hotel’s bank transfer its accounts to him, among other steps.Barreto started living at the hotel in 2018 after arguing in court that he had paid about $200 for a one-night stay and therefore had tenant’s rights, based on a quirk of the ci...