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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These types of internet stings have been around for years. Allowing the perp to believe he's convinced you to let him...uh...meet with you is in effect catching him in the act. He HAS a defense lawyer...I'd say he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in order to avoid publicity.
HOWEVER, he had been caught TWICE when procedings proceded. The firing of the assistant DA for "breaking procedure" in this type of case, combined with the DA's admission that sealing the records of sex offenders is highly irregular only makes it seems as though a guilty perp was caught, and big time strings were pulled to hush it up.
It IS irregular: there are LAWS on the books to protect neighborhood children from repeat offenders...and if Ritter had gotten caught a THIRD time, WITH the record sealed...he would have had to be tried as a first time offender, if NY State law works like that of most states.
If you're using a Windows machine, right click on the image and click "Proterties". The URL of the picture will be there. Highlight and copy it.
Type <A HREF="http://209.17.95.115/images2/Scott.gif"> with the image address between the quotes.
Note there are NO extra spaces except for the one between "A" and "HREF" you see in the example.
It bothers me. When my two daughters first started cruising chat rooms, I was PETRIFIED some pervert was going to dupe them into telling him where they lived or went to school or whatever.
THEY thought I was being paranoid and overprotective...
BOTTOM LINE: real kids are really victimized by perverts who first get to them online. That's why there are stings like the one Ritter was caught in. Ritter proved himself to be just such a pervert by setting up the meeting and showing up for it, in the hopes of getting his....well, you're favorite term here....with a teenaged girl.
I'm disgusted at Rush for making light of it, but then, I don't believe he has and children.
I asked the Admin Moderator to delete my post.
Think they'd kick a child molestor out of a country where the young men live to die so they can have their way with 72 "virgins"...(I never got that...there's a little LOGISTICAL problem with the APPLICATION of this fantasy they all drool for) ather than setting down with a live woman...or two or three. Greedy little buggers, aren't they?
Same conclusion I came to long ago...obviously, Arab men have some serious performance problems.
STILL makes me wonder about what Ritter might have gotten into while he was IN Iraq all those years...I've also believed for years that Islam attracts young non-Arab men who have the same anxieties and performance problems...at least as far as women go. I'm not saying he secretely converted to Islam and is posing as a Christian...just that he LOOKS like the type who would be attracted to Islamic culture...and when in an Islamic country being wined and dined by it's dictator...
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