CHICAGO — A federal judge on Monday ordered an electronic ankle bracelet and no Internet for the suburban Chicago man accused of stalking and secretly videotaping ESPN reporter Erin Andrews.

Michael David Barrett, 48, of Westmont, Ill., sat quietly in federal court in Chicago in an orange prison jumpsuit, his short hair graying around his temples. The traveling insurance salesman had whispered conversations with his lawyer but never turned toward the roomful of reporters at the bond hearing.
Later he was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown after being outfitted with the electronic monitoring device.
A prosecutor told U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys that Barrett went to a lot of work to track the popular Andrews to hotels. After removing the peephole eyepieces in doors to at least two rooms, he used a hacksaw to alter them and secretly videotaped Andrews unclothed, prosecutors alleged.
“This was an obsession, your honor, and one he acted on,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Grimes.
Agreeing with prosecutors that Barrett represented a danger to women, Keys ordered him confined to his home unless he is at work, at a doctor’s office or conferring with his lawyer. He will be monitored electronically each day from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.
The judge also barred him from accessing the Internet.
“If the allegations are true, they are horrific,” Keys said.
Barrett requested rooms next to Andrews at hotels in Nashville and Milwaukee while she was covering sporting events for the cable network, authorities said.
The divorced father allegedly first tried to sell the video clips he made to the celebrity news site TMZ.com before uploading them to another web page. The FBI linked Barrett to the videos through e-mail addresses and screen names he used, according to court documents.
Some of the same information has been used to link Barrett to Internet clips of other naked women that were uploaded to the same web site, Grimes said, but he is not charged with producing those images.
“We also believe he’s a danger to other women in this area and also nationally,” Grimes told Keys.
Court records unsealed Monday on the judge’s order showed that investigators conducted a search over the weekend at Barrett’s DuPage County home.
The warrant sought the seizure of materials demonstrating Barrett’s interest in Andrews, his possible videotaping of other women and how to tamper with peepholes. Grimes told the judge two computers and two mini-computer drives were removed from the residence and sent to investigators in California, where the case will be prosecuted.
Barrett’s attorney, Richard Beuke, disputed that his client represents a danger to anyone. He said he has known him personally for years and that Barrett has many supporters.
“He has a whole host of friends that I’ve gotten calls from the last several days,” Beuke said. “It’s certainly not the Michael Barrett that any of us know. These allegations are totally contrary to the young man that we’ve been friends with.”
Some members of Barrett’s family who hail from Oregon will travel to the Chicago area soon to help Barrett, he said.
“Certainly, this is a tough time for them,” he said.
Barrett is expects to continue to work after he was assured by his employer that he would keep his job, Beuke said.
Barrett is due in federal court in Los Angeles on Oct. 23. He will enter a plea of not guilty, Beuke said.