Monday, March 15, 2010
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Illinois insurance executive who secretly shot nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was sentenced tooday to 2 1/2 years in prison after giving a tearful apology that was harshly rebuked by his victim.
Michael David Barrett pleaded guilty in December to interstate stalking after prosecutors accused him of following the reporter to at least three cities and shooting the videos through hotel peepholes.
Barrett, 48, of suburban Chicago, agreed to a 27-month prison sentence after pleading guilty. Andrews urged the judge at the hearing for a harsher sentence and said she fears for her life every time she enters a hotel.
"You violated me and you violated all women," Andrews told Barrett. "You are a sexual predator, a sexual deviant, and they should lock you up."
Barrett admitted renting hotel rooms next to Andrews three times and shooting two videos of her while she was naked. He was accused of posting the videos online and trying to sell them to Los Angeles-based celebrity gossip site TMZ last year.