Ritter may have had an earlier arrest (Report suggests prior run-in with police)

MSNBC ^ | 6/21/03 | WNYT

[Steven W.]

ALBANY, NY, Jan. 21 - More details are emerging about the June 2001 arrest of former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter of Delmar. He was apparently arrested by Colonie police as part of Internet sex sting. The Schenectady Daily Gazette reports Ritter was under investigation for a similar incident two months earlier. COLONIE POLICE CANNOT comment on whether or not they actually arrested Ritter -- whose full name is William Scott Ritter Jr. -- on charges he solicited an underage girl over the Internet. They say this is because if an arrest was made, it was sealed during court proceedings.

However, NewsChannel 13 reported in June 2001 about an arrest of a 39-year-old William Ritter of Delmar on charges he tried to lure a 16-year-old girl he met on the Internet to a Burger King in Menands. According to police, the intent of that meeting was so that she could watch him perform sexual acts on himself.

The underage girl turned out to be an undercover police officer posing online as a minor as part of a sting operation.

Ritter was charged with attempted endangerment of a child. The case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal and was subsequently sealed.

Ritter's attorney, Norah Murphy, confirms her client was arrested in June 2001, but will not discuss the details of the case because the records have been sealed.

However, that might not have been Ritter's first brush with the law. According to the Albany Times Union, two months before that arrest, Ritter tried to meet a 14-year-old girl he chatted with online and was instead met by police officers. The newspaper reports that he was released without being charged.

The 41-year-old former Marine served as a weapons inspector in Iraq in the 1990s. He has been an outspoken critic of President Bush's plans for war against Iraq.

[harpseal]

Typo apologies

[Ciexyz]

Info bump.

[auboy]

Isn't the date incorrect on Paul Conti's e-mail? I thought arrest was in 2001.

[auboy]

I promise I'm not the "date police", but isn't this article from today, not June 21, 2003? Okay, I am a numbers freak;•)

[TheDon]

No problemo. Hmmm... It sure does explain alot about Ritter if he fell in love with Saddam about the time of his conviction. The only question would then be, who got to him?