Posted on 01/21/2003 8:18:12 AM PST by conservativecorner
Reports from newspapers and television stations in Albany, N.Y., now indicate that outspoken former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter allegedly sought to meet underage girls twice in a three-month period in 2001.
Scott Ritter mug shot (courtesy WNYT-TV)
The Schenectady Daily Gazette and New York Daily News originally reported Ritter allegedly had an online sexual discussion with someone he thought was an underage girl. The "girl," however, turned out to be an undercover police investigator, according to the Daily News, whose sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
WTEN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Albany, is reporting that Ritter contacted the "teen-age girl" twice in the spring of 2001, and that he has since undergone court-ordered sex-offender counseling from a psychologist in New York's capital.
Sources also tell the Albany Times-Union that Ritter actually had two run-ins with police.
The first occurred in April 2001, as the former Marine reportedly drove to a Colonie business to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl with whom he had chatted online. Instead, he reportedly was met by officers, who released him without a charge.
Two months later, the source told the paper, Ritter was caught in the same kind of sex sting after he tried to lure a 16-year-old girl to an area Burger King restaurant.
An attorney for Ritter confirmed that the ex-inspector, who says President Bush should be impeached for his Iraq policy, was arrested a year and a half ago.
Norah Murphy said Ritter was arrested in the upstate New York town of Colonie in June 2001, but she would not respond to allegations that he was charged with soliciting an underage girl on the Internet. Ritter lives in the Albany suburb of Delmar.
Colonie police Deputy Chief Steven Heider told WorldNetDaily that he cannot confirm the allegations, explaining that if they were true, the details would have been sealed by a court order.
"A sealing order is exactly what it says it is," he said. "We're not allowed to talk about anything under sealed court order, and I'm not saying that one exists."
However, WND has learned that NBC television affiliate WNYT in Albany has news footage of Ritter being arrested. At the time the video was shot, the station was unaware the arrest was connected to Ritter, WNYT Executive Producer Beth Cohen told WND.
The station has a mug shot of Ritter along with the footage, said News Director Paul Conti.
"If it's not him, it's either his clone or a twin," said Conti.
Scott Ritter
The news director said the 16-year-old girl had been lured by Ritter to meet him at the Burger King in Menands, N.Y., in order "to have her watch him have sex with himself."
"Anyone who went to the Burger King that day could confirm the details of that event and report that a sting operation was underway that involved a decoy officer posing as a 16-year-old girl," Conti said.
Conti told WorldNetDaily that WNYT plans to continue airing its information. Video footage of the arrest is being shown in the station's newscasts, because it was acquired prior to the sealing order, he said.
Callers to yesterday's Rush Limbaugh radio program brought up the issue of Ritter's arrest, to which the conservative talk host responded:
"If I were Scott Ritter, I would just come up with a 'Hey, I was just doing research here.' ... The Pete Townshend reply."
"You know we've all wondered," added Limbaugh, "why it is that Scott Ritter has done a 180 on what he originally saw as a weapons inspector and then the last couple years, it's like 'Nah, the Iraqis don't even have the capability to make a thumbtack, much less a chemical weapon.'"
Still, Limbaugh downplayed the incident.
"I'm surprised that this bothers anybody," he said. "I mean look at these reality TV shows out there, everything going on, 'Bachelorette,' 'Joe Millionaire' ... we had oral sex in the Oval Office ... I'm just surprised [at] the selective application of morality, that we seem to have certain things bother us and other things don't."
As WorldNetDaily reported Saturday, Ritter is calling for the ouster of President Bush for what he feels are unnecessary and murderous actions in the conflict with Iraq.
"I would be in favor of the impeachment of President Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors," the 41-year old told WND. "Murder is a high crime and misdemeanor, and I can't think of any better definition than murder when he talks about American service members and putting them in a war which is not only illegal but is based on a foundation of lies."
"When you go to war you open up a Pandora's box, the results of which cannot be predicted," he said via telephone as he drove from his upstate New York home to appear on Fox News. "Therefore, there better be a darned good reason to go to war. It's got to be worth the sacrifice that you're asking others to make."
Ritter's on-air face time regarding the conflict with Iraq could be in jeopardy depending on the amount of national media attention his arrest receives, said Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University.
"When you're a talking head, your whole reason for being has got to be the image of anything you represent," Thompson told the Times-Union. "If the story starts getting to be a big issue, there will be talking heads making their careers on the end of this talking head."
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Perhaps he was going on tv spouting his propaganda at the behest of someone interested in having him out there.
Perhaps he complied because if he didn't he was told that the story would come out.
Perhaps he was assured the record was sealed and his secret was safe with...whoever.
Like the LAPD who took it easy on O.J., the law enforcement in the Ritter story covered up his crimes. Shame on them and Ritter.
It does not bother us that Ritter is a pervert, nor the nature of his crime.
What bothers us is that a person of such low moral character is given a forum from which to support our enemies in Iraq, and attack our President.
Ritter has lived at his current place for about two years. Where did he live before and what do those sexual predator police records show? Again, this behavior didn't just START out of the blue!
He was caught TWICE. Who knows how many times he SOUGHT?
The question is, if he has shown those propensities here, he probably showed them in Iraq as well, and Saddam's secret police are smart enough to set a honeytrap for someone like Ritter, who then can be blackmailed into turning...
What bothers us is that a person of such low moral character is given a forum from which to support our enemies in Iraq, and attack our President.
It is also a validation of astute observations, made for months now, that Ritter was not right mentally and also lends credence to speculation that perhaps he was a person with a flawed character and that something in his closet was being used to make him dance to a certain tune.
Ritter lived in Gainesville, Fl before his move to NY. I searched the Florida sexual predator database, found 2 Ritters but the photos did not resemble Scott Ritter at all. I'm still looking around for Florida criminal records that can be accessed without having to pay a fee. So far no luck.
So are Joe Biden's secret ploice.
Uh....Rushti....there's no moral selectivity going on. The people disgusted by the traitor's perversions are the same people who DESPISED Clinton then, despise him now, HATE those disgusting TV shows and DO NOT WATCH THEM.
We despised Ritter as a traitor...and now we doubly despise him as both a traitor AND a &%$#@! pervert.
Attempting to corrupt a minor, attempted child sexual abuse, luring a minor with intent to commit an illegal act, luring a minor with intent to commit child sexual abuse, lewd and indecent behavior, public indecency...
He made a plea deal with the now-fired assistant DA and pled guilty to a "far lesser charge"...no one knows what charge he pled guilty TO in order to get off, because the deal included sealing his record.
He reminds me of those Muslim rapists in Florida abusing 10 year-olds...he must have hung out in Iraq too long.
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