HELP HURTS
Doorman wants job back after tenant-loan fiasco
A DOORMAN at an upscale Manhattan building is fighting for his job back after prosecutors tossed criminal charges against him for stealing pricey art from a tenant.
The bizarre building brouhaha at 25 Central Park West began when doorman Joel Marasigan, 52, said he loaned about $33,000 to resident Hagop Tankian, 79, after Tankian’s wife passed away on April 20, 2014.
Tankian claimed he needed the money to cover basic living expenses until his wife’s life insurance money kicked in, according to Marasigan.
“He was crying right in front of me,” Marasigan told the Daily News.
The couple, who lived in a rentstabilized unit in the 410-unit Art Deco tower, had been like his parents through the years, Marasigan said.
But the $33,000 was never returned, according to Marasigan. Instead, Tankian gave him what he said were two valuable paintings, a number of prints, a diamond ring and a fossil as collateral.
Tankian also wrote one check for $22,576 and another for $29,820. But he asked Marasigan not to deposit them until later.
Despite the exchange, Marasigan was suddenly arrested April 1, 2015 — nearly a year after he said he made the loan — near his post at the W. 63rd St. entrance.
The criminal complaint accused him of stealing 29 prints worth over $250,000, two paintings worth about $70,000, a $25,000 ring and a $20,000 fossil. Prosecutors also accused him of forcing Tankian to sign the two checks.
Marasigan was fired from his job as he sat in jail for a week while his partner Maria worked to post $5,000 bail.
On Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. dropped the charges.
“Now we are anxiously awaiting a response to my calls to Douglas Elliman to reinstate Mr. Marasigan to the job that he loves so much,” said his lawyer Joseph Murray, who investigated the case with fellow retired cop Mike Sheehan.
Tankian admitted Friday that Marasigan loaned him money, but claimed he was paid back with interest. He also claimed Marasigan was supposed to deliver the pricey prints to an Armenian church as a donation. He insisted the former doorman is “greedy” and stole the checks from him. “I’m sorry they took him like that. I feel bad. . . . I hope he’s going to give me what he has,” Tankian added. Marasigan and his attorney say none of the money was repaid and they intend to sue.