For five years, a New York City man managed to live rent-free in a landmark Manhattan hotel by exploiting an obscure local housing law.

But prosecutors this week said Mickey Barreto went too far when he filed paperwork claiming ownership of the entire New Yorker Hotel building 鈥� and tried to charge another tenant rent.

On Wednesday, he was arrested and charged with filing false property records. But Barreto, 48, says he was surprised when police showed up at his boyfriend鈥檚 apartment with guns and bulletproof shields. As far as he is concerned, it should be a civil case, not a criminal one.

鈥淚 said, 鈥極h, I thought you were doing something for Valentine鈥檚 Day to spice up the relationship until I saw the female officers,鈥欌�� Barreto recalled telling his boyfriend.

Barreto鈥檚 indictment on fraud and criminal contempt charges is just the latest chapter in the years-long legal saga that began when he and his boyfriend paid about $200 to rent one of the more than 1,000 rooms in the towering Art Deco structure built in 1930.

Barreto says he had just moved to New York from Los Angeles when his boyfriend told him about a loophole that allows occupants of single rooms in buildings constructed before 1969 to demand a six-month lease. Barreto claimed that because he鈥檇 paid for a night in the hotel, he counted as a tenant.

He asked for a lease and the hotel promptly kicked him out.

鈥淪o I went to court the next day. The judge denied. I appealed to the (state) Supreme Court and I won the appeal,鈥� Barreto said, adding that at a crucial point in the case, lawyers for the building鈥檚 owners didn鈥檛 show up, allowing him to win by default.

The judge ordered the hotel to give Barreto a key. He said he lived there until July 2023 without paying any rent because the building鈥檚 owners never wanted to negotiate a lease with him, but they couldn鈥檛 kick him out.

Manhattan prosecutors acknowledge that the housing court gave Barreto 鈥減ossession鈥� of his room. But they say he didn鈥檛 stop there: In 2019, he uploaded a fake deed to a city website, purporting to transfer ownership of the entire building to himself from the Holy Spirit Association for the which bought the property in 1976. The church was founded in South Korea by a self-proclaimed messiah, the late .

Barreto then tried to charge various entities as the owner of the building 鈥渋ncluding demanding rent from one of the hotel鈥檚 tenants, registering the hotel under his name with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection for water and sewage payments, and demanding the hotel鈥檚 bank transfer its accounts to him,鈥� the prosecutor鈥檚 office said in the statement.

鈥淎s alleged, Mickey Barreto repeatedly and fraudulently claimed ownership of one of the City鈥檚 most iconic landmarks, the New Yorker Hotel,鈥� said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Located a block from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, the New Yorker has never been among the city鈥檚 most glamorous hotels, but it has long been among its largest. Its huge, red 鈥淣ew Yorker鈥� sign makes it an oft-photographed landmark. Inventor Nikola Tesla lived at the hotel for for a decade. NBC broadcasted from the hotel鈥檚 Terrace Room. Boxers, including Muhammad Ali, stayed there when they had bouts at the Garden. It closed as a hotel in 1972 and was used for years for church purposes before part of the building reopened as a hotel in 1994.

The sued Barreto in 2019 over the deed claim, including his representations on LinkedIn as the building鈥檚 owner. The case is ongoing, but a judge ruled that Barreto can鈥檛 portray himself as the owner in the meantime.

A Unification Church spokesperson declined to comment about his arrest, citing the ongoing civil case.

In that case, Barreto argued that the judge who gave him 鈥減ossession鈥� of his room indirectly gave him the entire building because it had never been subdivided.

鈥淚 never intended to commit any fraud. I don鈥檛 believe I ever committed any fraud,鈥� Barreto said. 鈥淎nd I never made a penny out of this.鈥�

Barreto said his legal wrangling is activism aimed at denying profits to the . The church, known for conducting mass weddings, has been sued over its recruiting methods and criticized by some over its friendly relationship with North Korea, where Moon was born.

He said he has never hired a lawyer for the civil cases and has always represented himself. On Wednesday, he secured a criminal defense attorney.

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