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Last of the Duke Street Kings
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Man accused of videotaping ESPN reporter in federal custody
Michael David Barrett, looking tan and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, appeared before a federal judge in Chicago today on charges that he stalked ESPN personality Erin Andrews and secretly shot video of her as she undressed in two hotel rooms.
The stocky insurance company employee appeared calm as he answered "Yes, sir" when U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys asked if he was the man identified in a federal complaint charging him with interstate stalking.
After the five-minute hearing, Barrett was led out of the courtroom by two U.S. marshals. He'll he held in custody until Monday, when another hearing will be held on transferring him to California to face the charges.
Barrett, 48, was arrested Friday at O'Hare International Airport after being named in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Los Angeles. He is accused of altering peepholes in hotel room doors so he could shoot video of Andrews.
Barrett's attorney, Richard Beuke, described himself as a friend of Barrett for 10 years. He briefly spoke to reporters after the hearing, saying he was surprised that the complaint was filed in California, but the alleged crime occurred in Tennessee.
Beuke said his client is divorced. Asked if Barrett had any children, he nodded "yes" and walked away.
Barrett, under the pseudonym Mark Bennett, was linked to an e-mail account held by a person who tried to sell eight videos of Andrews to Web site TMZ.com, according to the FBI.
According to the affidavit, he is an employee of Combined Insurance Company, headquartered in Glenview with offices in Chicago. Michael Barrett works there as an employee in the "sales organization," said spokeswoman Amy Burrell-Tichy, who would not say for how long he's been with the company.
"We've been contacted by the FBI and we're cooperating. ... and will continue to do so," Burnell-Tichy said.
Seven of the eight videos, which officials believe were taken with a cellphone camera, appear to have been shot in a hotel room that the victim identified as the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee in September 2008, according to the FBI affidavit.
The agency said that the peephole in the door to the victim's room had been altered and that the accused had requested and received a room next door to the one occupied by the victim.
The door's peephole, which is made up of two pieces screwed into each other, had apparently been removed and shortened, according to the affidavit; the altered peephole showed marks that indicated it had been sawed through. The affidavit also said that shortening the length of one of the peephole's eyepiece, "it could be removed quickly and easily from the door without much noise."
Although the location of the second hotel room has not been definitely identified, records indicate Barrett booked but did not check in to a room at a Milwaukee hotel at the same time the victim stayed there in July 2008, according to an FBI affidavit in the case.
The peephole of the door to the room where the victim stayed in Milwaukee had been altered in a way similar to the one in the Nashville hotel.
In July, Andrews learned of the videos -- which FBI investigation showed were posted on at least one Web site in March -- and after watching them, "instantly thought they were videos of her," according to the FBI affidavit. Several of the videos were about 42 seconds long; officials believe they were clips of a longer video.
According to the affidavit, Barrett contacted TMZ.com from a Yahoo e-mail address, offering to sell the videos. That Web site contacted Andrews' representatives, who were given information from those e-mails that included the e-mail address. Further investigation led the FBI to Barrett.
The affidavit also stated that an individual using the Yahoo e-mail address had posted the videos on Google's Web site in February 2009.
Andrews told the FBI she had never met Barrett, the affidavit said.
Andrews today thanked FBI agents and prosecutors and said she hoped the case will help others who have been similarly victimized.
"For my part, I will make every effort to strengthen the laws on a state and federal level to better protect victims of criminal stalking," she said in a statement early today.
The federal complaint said Andrews felt ashamed and embarrassed and has had trouble sleeping and breathing because of the videos. She has also been worried that more secretly taped footage will surface, the complaint said.
Andrews' attorney, Marshall Grossman, said he called her Friday night with news of the arrest. She was greatly relieved, he said.
"I think she's probably sleeping more soundly tonight than she has since these videos surfaced," Grossman said.
Grossman has said Andrews plans to file civil lawsuits against the person who shot the video footage and anyone who publishes the material. He said in his statement this morning that Andrews has worked with law enforcement and a private investigative firm to reconstruct events.
"Erin deserves significant credit for the progress made in solving this case," Grossman said.
Frank Barrett, 78, who identified himself as Michael's father, said he first heard of the news when a Tribune reporter contacted him and was not notified by the FBI.
"I never had any reason to believe that anything like this would happen. This is clear out of the blue," said the man in his Portland, Ore. home.
When asked how he felt about the charges against his son, he paused, saying, "How would you feel?"
Barrett's ex-wife had no comment when reached today. He has a 19-year-old daughter.
Michael Barrett lives in a two-story townhome in a leafy neighborhood near the Westmont-Oak Brook border. No one answered at the home this morning. Neighbors said they don't really know him that well. He shares the home with a woman and no children live with them, neighbors said.
The home is for sale; it was put on the market Aug. 27. Neighbors said FBI agents were at the home last night and were asking neighbors for a key to the house, but no one had one.
Andrews has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.
A former dance team member at the University of Florida, Andrews was named "sexiest sportscaster" by Playboy magazine in both 2008 and 2009. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate.
Andrews, in an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last month, said she thought her career was over once the nude footage of her began circulating on the Internet.
"I kept screaming: 'I'm done. My career is over. I'm done. Get it off. Get it off the Internet,"' she said as she remembered talking to her father. "They thought I was physically injured, (that's) how bad I was screaming."
Andrews returned to the air Sept. 3 as the sideline reporter for ESPN's broadcast of South Carolina at North Carolina State. She is scheduled to work the Auburn-Tennessee game Saturday night in Knoxville, Tenn.
Michael David Barrett, looking tan and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, appeared before a federal judge in Chicago today on charges that he stalked ESPN personality Erin Andrews and secretly shot video of her as she undressed in two hotel rooms.
The stocky insurance company employee appeared calm as he answered "Yes, sir" when U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys asked if he was the man identified in a federal complaint charging him with interstate stalking.
After the five-minute hearing, Barrett was led out of the courtroom by two U.S. marshals. He'll he held in custody until Monday, when another hearing will be held on transferring him to California to face the charges.
Barrett, 48, was arrested Friday at O'Hare International Airport after being named in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Los Angeles. He is accused of altering peepholes in hotel room doors so he could shoot video of Andrews.
Barrett's attorney, Richard Beuke, described himself as a friend of Barrett for 10 years. He briefly spoke to reporters after the hearing, saying he was surprised that the complaint was filed in California, but the alleged crime occurred in Tennessee.
Beuke said his client is divorced. Asked if Barrett had any children, he nodded "yes" and walked away.
Barrett, under the pseudonym Mark Bennett, was linked to an e-mail account held by a person who tried to sell eight videos of Andrews to Web site TMZ.com, according to the FBI.
According to the affidavit, he is an employee of Combined Insurance Company, headquartered in Glenview with offices in Chicago. Michael Barrett works there as an employee in the "sales organization," said spokeswoman Amy Burrell-Tichy, who would not say for how long he's been with the company.
"We've been contacted by the FBI and we're cooperating. ... and will continue to do so," Burnell-Tichy said.
Seven of the eight videos, which officials believe were taken with a cellphone camera, appear to have been shot in a hotel room that the victim identified as the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee in September 2008, according to the FBI affidavit.
The agency said that the peephole in the door to the victim's room had been altered and that the accused had requested and received a room next door to the one occupied by the victim.
The door's peephole, which is made up of two pieces screwed into each other, had apparently been removed and shortened, according to the affidavit; the altered peephole showed marks that indicated it had been sawed through. The affidavit also said that shortening the length of one of the peephole's eyepiece, "it could be removed quickly and easily from the door without much noise."
Although the location of the second hotel room has not been definitely identified, records indicate Barrett booked but did not check in to a room at a Milwaukee hotel at the same time the victim stayed there in July 2008, according to an FBI affidavit in the case.
The peephole of the door to the room where the victim stayed in Milwaukee had been altered in a way similar to the one in the Nashville hotel.
In July, Andrews learned of the videos -- which FBI investigation showed were posted on at least one Web site in March -- and after watching them, "instantly thought they were videos of her," according to the FBI affidavit. Several of the videos were about 42 seconds long; officials believe they were clips of a longer video.
According to the affidavit, Barrett contacted TMZ.com from a Yahoo e-mail address, offering to sell the videos. That Web site contacted Andrews' representatives, who were given information from those e-mails that included the e-mail address. Further investigation led the FBI to Barrett.
The affidavit also stated that an individual using the Yahoo e-mail address had posted the videos on Google's Web site in February 2009.
Andrews told the FBI she had never met Barrett, the affidavit said.
Andrews today thanked FBI agents and prosecutors and said she hoped the case will help others who have been similarly victimized.
"For my part, I will make every effort to strengthen the laws on a state and federal level to better protect victims of criminal stalking," she said in a statement early today.
The federal complaint said Andrews felt ashamed and embarrassed and has had trouble sleeping and breathing because of the videos. She has also been worried that more secretly taped footage will surface, the complaint said.
Andrews' attorney, Marshall Grossman, said he called her Friday night with news of the arrest. She was greatly relieved, he said.
"I think she's probably sleeping more soundly tonight than she has since these videos surfaced," Grossman said.
Grossman has said Andrews plans to file civil lawsuits against the person who shot the video footage and anyone who publishes the material. He said in his statement this morning that Andrews has worked with law enforcement and a private investigative firm to reconstruct events.
"Erin deserves significant credit for the progress made in solving this case," Grossman said.
Frank Barrett, 78, who identified himself as Michael's father, said he first heard of the news when a Tribune reporter contacted him and was not notified by the FBI.
"I never had any reason to believe that anything like this would happen. This is clear out of the blue," said the man in his Portland, Ore. home.
When asked how he felt about the charges against his son, he paused, saying, "How would you feel?"
Barrett's ex-wife had no comment when reached today. He has a 19-year-old daughter.
Michael Barrett lives in a two-story townhome in a leafy neighborhood near the Westmont-Oak Brook border. No one answered at the home this morning. Neighbors said they don't really know him that well. He shares the home with a woman and no children live with them, neighbors said.
The home is for sale; it was put on the market Aug. 27. Neighbors said FBI agents were at the home last night and were asking neighbors for a key to the house, but no one had one.
Andrews has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.
A former dance team member at the University of Florida, Andrews was named "sexiest sportscaster" by Playboy magazine in both 2008 and 2009. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate.
Andrews, in an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last month, said she thought her career was over once the nude footage of her began circulating on the Internet.
"I kept screaming: 'I'm done. My career is over. I'm done. Get it off. Get it off the Internet,"' she said as she remembered talking to her father. "They thought I was physically injured, (that's) how bad I was screaming."
Andrews returned to the air Sept. 3 as the sideline reporter for ESPN's broadcast of South Carolina at North Carolina State. She is scheduled to work the Auburn-Tennessee game Saturday night in Knoxville, Tenn.