On Saturday, October 3, 2009, The FBI arrested insurance salesman, Michael David Barrett, in Chicago, Illinois and charged him with stalking and spying on ESPN sportscaster, Erin Andrews.
Yesterday, according to the Associated Press, the FBI has been unable to match up one of the videos to the correct hotel it was illegally and secretly filmed in, violating Andrews privacy, through a modified peephole. They claim all the other videos were filmed in Nashville, Tennessee.
As stated on the Judiciary report on October 3, 2009, the FBI failed to explain how Michael David Barrett, knew Andrews' schedule well enough, to follow her around, state to state, at different hotels and obtain rooms next to her, to engage in illicit, voyeuristic filming, without permission.
It was initially stated on TMZ, the website Michael David Barrett first offered the criminally filmed nude clips of Andrews, that it was an inside job, pointing the finger at an anonymous person, working at ESPN.
It made sense, as celebrities do not disclose to the general public, which hotels they will be staying in at any time.
If it was not an inside job as TMZ claimed, how was this man able to know such private information, such as the exact location she was staying in different states?
There are so many hotels out there. How did he know which one she would be staying at each time, her room numbers and when she would be there, enabling him to book a suite right next to her on more than one occasion?
Did he commit additional acts of invasion of privacy to obtain her schedule, as this creates quite a hole in this sick story?
Furthermore, did no one notice him standing in front of hotel room doors for an extended period of time, holding a cell phone up to the modified keyhole (to permit illegal filming)?
And speaking of that, did no one notice this man modifying keyholes at different hotels? That does not seem like something one can do in a minute or two.
Why didn't hotel hallway surveillance cameras catch this misconduct?
Why did he not check into a booked hotel room in Milwaukee next to Andrews that also had a modified peephole?
The FBI needs to answer the aforementioned questions.
Insurance man accused of stalking ESPN's Andrews
Asked how Barrett had gotten interested in Andrews, if the allegations are true, or how he managed to get the adjacent hotel rooms, Beuke said he assumed it was not true. Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice said he did not know how Barrett allegedly became interested in Andrews.
An FBI affidavit said agents had reviewed eight videos and all but one had appeared to be taken in a single hotel. It said Andrews had reviewed several and said they appeared to be of her in a room at the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University.
Authorities said Barrett had occupied an adjacent room, and that the peephole in the door of Andrews' room appeared to have been modified with a hacksaw to permit videos to be made with a cellphone camera.
Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc. issued a statement saying the company takes its guests' security and privacy seriously and it has been cooperating with investigators.
Agents also went to the Ramada Conference Center in Milwaukee, formerly the Radisson Airport. The affidavit said Barrett had made a reservation in the hotel for a night when Andrews was staying there and that the peephole in the room that she occupied had been similarly modified.
But they said Barrett had never checked in, and the interior of the room did not fully match what was seen on the eighth video...
Reservation records in the hotel's computer showed the notation: "INFO-GST RQST TO RM NXT TO (individual A)," the affidavit said...
TMZ's Bamboozling Erin Andrews Coverage
By DAULERIO, 7:30 PM on Sat Oct 3 2009, 10,564 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)
TMZ has curiously been anointed the white-hatted hero for turning over the email address of the individual accused of tearing apart a peephole and filming Erin Andrews undressed multiple times. So why did they screw up the story so badly?
According to the affidavit, Michael David Barrett contacted Dennis Broad of TMZ on January 28th and tried to broker a deal for his grainy EA peephole footage. TMZ turned him down because they wanted no parts of it, according to Harvey Levin. I spoke to Levin on July 16th, after the links to the footage started to show up in our inbox to see if he'd heard anything about it. At the time, Levin said he "knew nothing about it" and "wouldn't run it anyway because it's illegal." Fair enough. But once the story broke and it couldn't be ignored any longer, TMZ went full-throttle on Erin Andrews after "reviewing" the tape that had been sent to them in January, apparently.
So they have a possible lead on the man's identity, Levin's talking to EA's lawyer, Marshall Grossman, yet TMZ continued to float theories that this was possibly an ESPN employee even though they have a key bit of evidence and access to the FBI and EA's legal team that would give them full control of the story. But instead of following up on all of these latest revelations as they happen, they opted to go with her old yearbook photo.
I spoke to Thom Mrozek of the US Attorney's office and he told me that there were some questions about how TMZ handled it and some of their inconsistent reporting give they knew so much about it. Mrozek didn't want to speak on behalf of TMZ or speculate as to why it happened. And, surprisingly, Levin has not responded yet to my email request to answer this question either. I'm very popular...
