Oct
2009
Man Arrested In Erin Andrews Peephole Video Case
The person behind the now infamous Erin Andrews peephole video has not only been discovered, but he is now in custody.
Back in July of this year, controversy erupted over the Erin Andrews peephole video that revolved around a popular female ESPN correspondent being filmed naked in her hotel room through a peephole. At the time there was no indication of who had shot the video, but authorities did begin looking into it.
CNN is reporting that 48-year-old Michael David Barrett was arrested yesterday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Il on a charge of interstate stalking. It seems Mr. Barrett followed Ms. Andrews to at least two different hotels, and at a hotel in Nashville, TN he checked in after her and requested a room adjacent to hers. It appears that this is where the video was shot through an altered peep hole.
It seems Mr. Barrett had originally intended to sell the multi-part video to celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, and in the end it was employees of that very site that assisted in tracking down the man.
If convicted of the charge, Mr. Barrett faces up to five years in a federal prison.
There is no word of any comment from Ms. Andrews.
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Luis | October 4th, 2009 at 2:44 am #
Wow… it took them four months to figure out that the guy who specifically asked for the room right next to hers was the culprit? What the hell kept them? Seems pretty simple to me: (1) determine the room it came from, (2) confirm the peephole, (3) check the hotel registration, and (4) arrest the guy. Between (3) and (4) there might be a little IP address checking against where the perp was based, but really, come on… four months?
Either there's an element to this case which was not apparent (like the perp being on the run constantly), or the cops were slacking a bit on this one.
Sean P. Aune | October 4th, 2009 at 3:19 am #
I have NO clue why it took so long to catch this guy. It seems like a no brainer case to me. I do know on the IP situation that the video was uploaded in segments from 8 different locations, so that might have thrown a monkey wrench into it, but the room right next to her's? Dead giveaway.