LOS ANGELES — An Illinois insurance executive agreed to plead guilty to interstate stalking after secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Michael Barrett, 48, of Westmont, Ill., will plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, said Thom Mrozek, with the U.S. attorney’s office.
Barrett is suspected of renting hotel rooms adjacent to Andrews in three cities last year, altering the peepholes and shooting videos of Andrews in two of the locations — in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008 and in Nashville, Tenn., seven months later. He adjusted a hotel peephole in Milwaukee, Wis., in July 2008 and called 14 hotels to find out where Andrews was staying, prosecutors said.
Barrett is accused of uploading the videos to the Internet and trying to sell them to the Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ this year. Several TV networks and newspapers aired or published images of Andrews taken from the videos.
“Mr. Barrett accepts full responsibility for his conduct,” said Barrett’s attorney David Willingham. “He apologizes to Ms. Andrews, and expresses his deep regret for his conduct that caused her so much pain. It is his sincere hope that these events can now become an opportunity to make positive changes in his life.”
Prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 27 months in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
