A New York hotel security chief and fire safety director was arrested this week for giving himself days off by setting fire to the hotels he was supposed to oversee.

Mariano Barbosa, 30, was a security director for the Yotel Hotel (and the SoHo Grand Hotel before that), where he's suspected in at least eight small blazes in the last four years. Authorities told the Daily News that Barbosa would set fire to newspapers in hallways, stairwells, and emergency exits late at night or early in the morning in order to keep guests from getting out quickly and give the hotel a bad name. Investigators also allege he used the time to take drinking vacations from work.

“He started the fires to lighten his work load,” the source told the Daily News. “Security directors get comp rooms at the hotel. After the fires, the hotel would be shut down for repairs and he would be in his comp room, boozing it up.”

Barbosa was arrested after the apparently gave "inconsistent interviews" to Fire Department investigators.

[image via Getty]