Erin Andrews’ stalker revealed in taped testimony Monday just how easy it was to get close to the sportscaster — and eventually film her naked.
Disgraced former insurance executive Michael David Barrett described how he requested a room next to the TV journalist so he could film peephole video of her at a Nashville hotel — easily getting her hotel room number by using a house phone that showed where she was staying.
In his December 2013 deposition played during her $75 million civil trial, Barrett called his actions “a pretty ill-conceived plan,” but everything actually went off without a hitch until he tried to sell the footage.
Andrews appeared visibly upset as she left the courtroom before the 2.5-hour testimony began.
In the video, Barrett recalled how he’d watched Andrews at least a dozen times on TV and came up with the idea to sell a nude video of her after seeing that she was trending on Yahoo.
“I watch a lot of sports,” he said. “That’s how I knew who she was.”
At the time, Barrett was in a “financial bind,” he said, adding, “It was a mistake in judgement that I regret deeply.”
After confirming that Andrews had booked a room at the Nashville Marriott, Barrett requested one right next to the former ESPN reporter, he said.
But when he showed up, a hotel employee told him that the room he had requested was unavailable and they were going to put him in a different area, Barrett testified.
While waiting for his room, Barrett said he went to the hotel restaurant, where he found a house phone that displays room numbers and called the operator.
“Can I have Erin Andrews’ room?” he recalled asking.
“They connected me,” Barrett continued. “On the house phone it shows a room number, so I knew what room she was in.”
Barrett went to the 10th-floor room and saw that a maid was cleaning the one next door, so he requested to stay there.
“So I went back to the front desk and told them about the room,” he explained. “They went back and verified for me that it was ready, and they checked me into that room.”
He knew he’d been put next to Andrews, because he could “hear her talking on the phone” on his way in, he said. Their rooms were in an alcove, hidden from view by anyone standing in the hallway, Barrett said.
After hearing Andrews leave, he removed the peephole from her door and went back to his own room, where he used a hacksaw to cut off the threads attached to it.
“I removed the peephole, altered it,” he said. “I cut off the threads so it was basically a plug and could be put back in.”
Later on in the day, Barrett returned to his room and heard the shower on in Andrews’ room.
“I went back to the room, and unfortunately for both of us, I could hear that the shower was on in her room when I walked by,” he said.
“I waited until the shower went off. Then I pulled out the plug and waited for the opportunity.”
Barrett spent several minutes pressing his camera phone against the peephole before deciding “enough was enough.”
“I’m not proud of what I did,” he insisted. “I didn’t like what I did.”
After taking the video in Nashville, he uploaded it to his computer, then later tried to sell it to TMZ but was unsuccessful, Barrett said.
Andrews is suing the Nashville Marriott’s owner and manager. Her lawyers are claiming the hotel was negligent when it allowed Barrett to request a room next to her without asking any questions.