Stalker used background check service on celebrity female reporters

Partial court document below this blog

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors say ESPN reporter Erin Andrews' peephole stalker ran background checks on other female sports reporters.

Although no other celebrities were secretly filmed by Michael Barrett, about 16 other women were "victimized … in nearly precisely the same way that he victimized" Andrews, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in city center Los Angeles.

The names of those who were allegedly the targets of Barrett's "long-term obsession," other than Andrews, were not revealed in court papers, but prosecutors described them as "female sports reporters, as well as other television personalities."

The memo also includes a list of the titles Barrett gave to his hotel peephole videos of Andrews — "Erin Andrews Spectacular Butt," "Erin Andrews in a Pink Thong" and "Erin go WOW!!"

The court filing notes that Andrews wants Barrett to pay her about $335,000 in restitution.

The pestering has had a "devastating impact on … Andrews' emotional disorder, and the emotional distress caused to her and her family cannot be overstated. She has lived in dread for her physical safety," the prosecution's filing document states.

Barrett, 48, of the Chicago vicinity, has pleaded guilty to one federal count of interstate pestering and is scheduled to be sentenced March 8.

In his plea agreement, Barrett admitted surreptitiously shooting videos of Andrews in the nude through peepholes in hotel rooms in Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee, and posting the record on the Internet after trying to sell it to the Los Angeles-based entertainment news site TMZ.com.

At the guilty plea hearing in December, Andrews said that always in view of the fact that the record became public, "I am subject to crude comments. I walk into stadiums and fans make crude comments to me. I have nightmares about this sexual predator."

She extra, "I hope he never sees the light of day again so nobody else has to go through this."

Barrett was arrested Oct. 2 at Chicago's O'Hare Global Airport.

After the allegations came to light, investigators learned the peephole had been altered in the door to a Nashville hotel room where Andrews stayed in September 2008, according to prosecutors.

Barrett had specifically requested and stayed in the hotel room adjacent to Andrews, prosecutors said. He had also registered at hotels in Columbus and Milwaukee where Andrews stayed in July and September 2008, according to a court filing.

TMZ.com was offered the videos of the victim for an undisclosed amount via e-mail messages that later were associated back to Barrett, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Barrett's attorney, David K. Willingham, has said his client had lost his insurance job and may lose his home as a result of the case.

Until he is sentenced next month, Barrett remains emancipated on $100,000 bond under conditions that include house arrest, electronic monitoring and restrictions on his use of the telephone and the Internet.

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