Man accused of stalking Andrews

CHICAGO (AP) — An insurance man called “as regular a guy as you’ll ever meet” was ordered back to California on Saturday to face charges that he stalked ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and video taped her nude by aiming a cell phone camera through an altered peephole in her hotel room door.

Michael David Barrett, 47, of Westmont, Ill., was being held in jail over the weekend while awaiting a judge’s decision Monday on whether he will go to Los Angeles as a federal prisoner or free on bail.

Barrett, clad in the bright orange jumpsuit of a federal prisoner, made a brief initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys after being arrested Friday night by FBI agents at O’Hare International Airport.

An FBI affidavit said Barrett requested and stayed in a room near Andrews at a Tennessee hotel where investigators believe seven videos were recorded. An eighth video may have been shot at a hotel in Milwaukee.

“I don’t think he’s even had a traffic ticket,” said his lawyer, Rick Beuke. “He’s as regular a guy as you’ll ever meet — a great friend,” said the attorney, who said he had known Barrett for a decade. “I must have calls from 30 people wanting to know what they could do to help.”

Tags: sports, crime, espn, andrews, stalking