Posted on 01/20/2003 3:25:45 PM PST by HAL9000
Delmar Weapons Inspector in Hot Water(updated: January 20th, 5:50pm) The spotlight is back on former UN Weapons Inspector and Delmar native, Scott Ritter. But it's not over Iraq instead its over charges he talked with an underage girl on the Internet.
The Daily Gazette broke the story over the weekend. The paper says Ritter was arrested in June of 2001 after having a sexual conversation on the Internet with someone he "thought" was an underage girl. The girl turned out to be an undercover investigator.
Sources tell NEWS10 that Ritter contacted what he thought was a teenage girl on the internet for the purpose of a sexual interlude not once, but twice within a three month period back in 2001. Ritter also underwent court-ordered sex offender counseling from an Albany psychologist.
According to Ritter, (and the WSJ), Ritter had considered quitting the Marines on the eve of the Gulf War deployments. He then said he thought "I can't leave the others go and not go myself" or something to that effect. If this is true- and it's hard to tell where Ritter is concerned since he might just be saying that to court the antiwar left - then he had some serious issues as early as 1990.
Which again, points to his "conversion" either being a reflection of dissatisfactions he had always had, or to a real conversion between 1988 and 1990, when he met his Russian translator gal while was in Russia doing arms inspections there. Speculation, of course.
This current hubbub is over what amounts to a mere crack in an already flawed facade.
Now, we have someone who has done this at least twice, and has done it after being caught by the police. This is, in my opinion, a big deal. How many times did he do it before being caught? How many times in the last year or so, after he was arrested?
And WHY was this sealed? As a multiple offender, it should not have been sealed (hence the dismissal of the assistant DA).
I guess if a child pervert trolled the net looking for 10 and 16-year-old boys (using toys, money, etc as bait) and then set up a rendevouz with one who turned out to be a cop from a sting--you'd defend him, too! This actually happened here in N. Calfornia. The police also found that the guy was going to torture the poor kid--it was detailed on his computer!The pervert's scumbag lawyer got him off, claiming it was just a "harmless fantasy." Playacting. Yeah, right.
I'm not saying that Ritter was going to pysically harm the girl he thought was waiting for him at Burger King. Who knows? Either way, a married, forty-year-old man has no business with a sixteen-year-old girl. I'm just glad that he got caught in this sting before he found a real, willing victim to use. The "play acting online fantasy" stopped when Ritter turned off his computer, got into a car and headed to Burger King with more than just a whopper and fries on his mind...
Scott should seek religous counseling from Reverand Jackson. Bubba hasn't messed up any blue dresses or ruined any good cigars since Jesse got him right with the Lord that I know of.
It's not a big deal considering that the chances this was his first time out trying to solicit is pretty small, and that he may possibly have been working for Russia since 1988. It's what he's done that we haven't caught him doing that worries me.
If you're worried about your daughter getting picked up by Ritter because he's loose on the streets, then that's understandable, but it still pales in comparison to war, and to thousands of Iraqi kids and their families being abused, imprisoned and murdeed by a regime Ritter is protecting. Not to mention the possibilities of what may have happened to Speicher and two Iraqi-Americans who were reportedly arrested over there on charges of spying.
Seems to me you aren't officially a multiple offender if you haven't been previously convicted, let alone charged. But, the story is developing...
Ritter himself asserts that the FBI were harassing him -- which would certainly seem logical under the circumstances, since he looks, walks and acts like a traitor, and has done so for four years now. So, if he got off lightly with the authorities, it seems more likely that the intent was to keep him in play than to save his butt. Certainly, this is all working out beautifully from the standpoint of discrediting the "peace movement."
"In June of 2001, Ritter was accused of engaging in a sexual discussion, on the Internet with a person who he thought, was a 14 year old girl. It was actually an undercover investigator who agreed to meet with Ritter. When Ritter arrived at the location, expecting to meet the girl, police warned him that he had been set up. Three months later Ritter allegedly fell into the same trap, only this time he was arrested."
Are you saying they were innocent just because they believed the money was from an arab when in fact it came from an impersonator?
That Ritter was trolling was clear intent. He intended to do the deed so long as he was convinced there was a 16 year old girl involved.
That many societies consider 16 to be an age of consent, is as immaterial as an Americasn who goes cannibal claiming innocence because in some societies, cannibalism is perfectly acceptable.
The fact is, in his state, 16 is not the age of consent. That's the law, without regard to what Kofi Annan or some bronze-age tribesman in Asia may think.
That said, in comparison to the other things Ritter has engaged in, such as taking money in exchange for suppporting the Iraqi regime, this is very small potatoes and people will in their zeal end up turning him into another "semi-martyr" of the left , just as the focus on Clinton's sexual misdeeds made people forget entirely that he was a traitor, a perjuror, and had abused his office. Hillary and Carville loved it when they were able to turn it into an "it's all about sex" issue- it distracted from the true gravity of his high crimes.
And he denied it? His own attorney admitted it!
Total BS. You have NO way of proving that. No way. BS.
Two times? What did I miss?
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