Suspect busted for squatting in Manhattan hotel room where powder sparked terror scare

A repeat offender has been busted for squatting in a posh Midtown Manhattan hotel room where a white powdery substance was found, sparking a brief terror scare, police said Wednesday.

The powder was not toxic, though it is not yet clear how a worker at the Park Hyatt on W. 57th near Seventh Ave. got sick while cleaning the room, sparking a partial evacuation.

Squatter John Taddei, 55, has 16 prior arrests and has previously trespassed at other hotels, police said.

Cops charged him with criminal trespass and theft of services.

The incident unfolded about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday as the worker began to feel dizzy and nauseous as she cleaned up the room Taddei had been squatting in.

Medics took her to a local hospital, where she told staff she had cleaned a white powder from a bathroom surface.

The FDNY responded to the hotel and swabbed various surfaces in the room, which at first tested as a “possible trace” of an explosive substance, police said at a news conference Tuesday night.

Authorities initially thought the powder could be “a possible compound of high explosives,” according to a police source. But the test results were later determined to be false positives.

Police scouring hotel surveillance footage discovered that Taddei stayed in the room from around 8:20 p.m. Sunday to 10:30 a.m. Monday after he picked up a keycard the previous guests had dropped, police said.

Taddei often searches for misplaced or old hotel key cards on the streets and robs guests, police sources said.