Westmont man accused of stalking ESPN's Andrews released on bond

Michael David Barrett, the 47-year-old Westmont insurance executive accused of stalking and secretly videotaping ESPN reporter Erin Andrews nude in her hotel room, was released on a $4,500 recognizance bond Monday in Chicago, pending an Oct. 23 federal court date in Los Angeles.

Barrett was allowed to return to his home at 107 White Birch Lane, Westmont, and to go back to work at the Combined Insurance Company of America, but was ordered to observe a home curfew under electronic monitoring from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and was banned from using any device providing access to the Internet.

"I don't want to minimize the seriousness of the offense of which the defendant is charged," said Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys, who called it "horrific." Yet he said Barrett's lack of a previous criminal record "weighs in his favor," and he was "reasonably sure" Barrett doesn't pose a danger to the community or a flight risk.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Grimes had argued against both points, saying, "He's a danger to the particular victim in this case" and other women "in the area and nationally." He suggested Barrett had stalked or secretly recorded other women, although he said the FBI was still processing evidence seized on computers, portable drives and cell phones in a warranted search of Barrett's Westmont home over the weekend.

Barrett was arrested Friday at O'Hare International Airport and charged over the weekend with Internet stalking. The case was set in federal court in Los Angeles, as Barrett is accused of trying to interest the L.A.-based multimedia gossipmongering firm TMZ.com in the video he shot of Andrews last year.

Yet while Keys imposed a curfew rather than full home detention on Barrett, he did agree with the prosecution in banning Barrett from the Internet, as, according to the complaint filed in federal court, he used his work e-mail at Combined Insurance to disseminate the Andrews video.

"He would have to be pretty stupid at work to engage in any sort of Internet surfing or stalking," Keys said.

"Yes, he would be stupid," Grimes responded, "but he was stupid in the first place."

Thus Keys ruled that it was not unreasonable for Barrett to be banned from using the Internet until his Oct. 23 plea date in Los Angeles. "Once he gets to central California, they can do anything they want," Keys said.

Andrews was named only as "Individual A" in the formal complaint, but when the video first made it to the Internet last summer, it caused a media ruckus, and it was no secret this was the Andrews case, as she was identified in the court filing as a "female ESPN reporter." Barrett was accused in the complaint of asking for and receiving a room next to Andrews' at a Marriott Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., a year ago, when she was on assignment for a game there. According to the FBI agent reporting in the complaint, a peephole in Andrews' room had been altered to allow recording by a cell-phone video camera. A room used by Andrews at a Milwaukee Ramada hotel a year ago last summer was found to be similarly altered.

"This was an obsession," Grimes said.

Barrett, who appeared red-faced and dressed in an orange incarceration jumpsuit at Monday's hearing at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago, was also ordered to turn over his passport and limit his travel to northern Illinois except for court appearances in Los Angeles, as well as to "avoid all contact" with any victims or witnesses in the case.

Barrett's defense attorney, Rick Beuke, said afterward that Barrett would file a plea of not guilty at the Oct. 23 court appearance.

"These are allegations," he said. "These aren't facts that have been proven in a court of law. That's what trials are all about."

Beuke said interviews with Barrett's employers at Combined Insurance suggested he was a "tremendous employee" and added, "They've been very supportive to this point." According to Beuke, Barrett has been divorced for some time.

Barrett had apparently made little if any impression on neighbors in the Westmont housing development where he lives.

"I'm totally shocked," said David Wayne, a 72-year-old retired corporate executive who lives nearby. "He looked absolutely normal - nothing distinguishing."

An Internet real-estate Web site said Barrett's home had recently been put on the market, with an asking price of $300,000.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=326457">Westmont man accused of taping Andrews nude may be released <span class="date">[10/05/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/barrettcomplaint.pdf">The criminal complaint </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/searchwarrant.pdf">The search warrant </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/warrantaffidavit.pdf">Affidavit for search warrant</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>