Hotel security guard lit fires in hotels to make his job easier - includes a hotel George Clooney has stayed at

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Security guard 'lit eight fires' at Manhattan hotels frequented by celebrities because he wanted 'to make the venues less busy'  Mariano Barbosa Jr. allegedly lit the fires over four years at the SoHo Grand on West Broadway, where past guests include Reece Witherspoon and George Clooney

He also is accused of setting fire to the Yotel on 10th Avenue and 42nd Street where he worked as director of security
The 30-year-old married father-of-three was arrested on Saturday and appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court that evening on arson charges

A security guard has been accused of lighting eight fires at two celebrity-filled Manhattan hotels he worked at in a bid to make the venues less busy.

Mariano Barbosa Jr. allegedly lit the fires over four years at the SoHo Grand on West Broadway, where past guests include Reece Witherspoon, George Clooney and Kirsten Dunst, and the Yotel on 10th Avenue and 42nd Street. The 30-year-old married father-of-three was arrested on Saturday and appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court that evening on arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief charges. Fire marshalls said Barbosa, of New Jersey, set the fires in an attempt to make the hotels less popular and his job more manageable. To maximize potential damage, he allegedly started the fires in hallways, in stairwells and in front of exit doors when he was on duty between 10:11 p.m. and 5:09 a.m. All fires were quickly extinguished.

No one was seriously hurt in any of the eight fires, though two firefighters sustained minor injuries in a fire in February, according to the Fire Department's director of public information Jim Long. For the first blaze, in February 2009, he set fire to bedding while working at the SoHo Grand.

At the Yotel, Barbosa used a towel in three separate incidents and bed sheets in two others from October 2011 to this month, according to court documents. Long said Barbosa was arrested after he submitted to voluntary questioning and information he gave suggested he was the likely culprit.

An unnamed official told The New York Times it appeared Barbosa had grown tired of patrons at the hotels' bars and parties. '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,' the official said.

Yotel said in was cooperating with the Fire Department and the police while the Soho Grand declined to comment to The Times. In a statement, fire commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano said: 'It's disturbing that an individual charged with the safety of hotel occupants would callously endanger their lives — and the lives of firefighters — for personal gain.'

The security guard's wife, Leslie Martinez, 27, said she was shocked by the charges. She said her husband worked hard for Yotel, which gave him a service award last year that included a four-day trip to Las Vegas. She said he often slept in complimentary rooms, so he could be there for his next shift. 'This is a slap in the face,' Martinez told The Times. 'I don't understand how all of the sudden he's the bad guy.'

The couple have been married 12 years and have three young sons, two of them autistic. 'For them to turn this around on him is completely unfair,' Martinez said.