Police Can't Confirm Ritter's Arrest (New Detail and Mug Photo)

WNYT-TV, Albany, NY ^ | January 20, 2003 | WNYT Staff

[The Great Satan]

They take up a lot of time and resources and are usually beyond the expertise of this kind of small police department. That's why the Feds work these cases. They have the resources.

Ritter had already made his about turn over Iraq by the time of this arrest. In July of 2000 he accepted $400K from Saddam's US-based front-man Shakir al-Khafaji to go to Baghdad and make a propagandistic "documentary" featuring interviews with the likes of Tariq Aziz. This extraordinary reversal must have piqued the curiosity of US intelligence. It could well be that they developed evidence regarding Ritter's vulnerability and used the sting to get something on him for use at the appropriate time.

[My Favorite Headache]

Yeah Shermy...that story was buried here.

[Dog Gone]

I previously thought he'd been bribed. Well, it was more effective than that. Bribery and blackmail, in combination, make a very persuasive way to influence behavior.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Don't know. It may be the first time he got caught acting on his slimy sexual impluses. Of course, if his computer been seized--and with the case sealed, no one knows if it was--there might be a record of where Scott goes when he's on-line.

If there were records showing the problem was worse than what was caught in the sting, it would make no sense that it was hushed up. There are programs out there that claim to clean up traces of previous activity from a PC, and if this guy kept his PC spotless then maybe prosecution chose to offer a plea bargain to the misdemeanor rather than wage a time consuming, expensive, and iffy court fight in which the state's own experts would have to testify that there was no trace on the PC.

[Lauratealeaf]

I just did a google search on Norah Murphy and found two interesting items. One, there was a Norah Murphy who was in the third class cabin on the Titanic and two, a Norah Murphy practicing law. Here is her link....

Defender of Perverts

[cyncooper]

Is Matt sympathetic to the anti-war sentiment?

[Miss Marple]

Norah Murphy's bio from her firm is here.

[Shermy]

Your Burger King query can is answered here.

[Lauratealeaf]

As you wished, re the name of Ritter's liar, er attorney: Today: "Ritter's attorney, Norah Murphy, confirmed that he was arrested in the town of Colonie in June 2001."

Thanks!

[BOBTHENAILER]

Thanks for the info. I might have to write her.

[Miss Marple]

I wonder what her firm is up to? Back in a bit.

[The Great Satan]

From what you're saying there is nothing that unusual about a first-time offender getting his conviction quashed like this in such a case, which is pretty much what I figured. I think the main interest here is what this incident tells us about Scott Ritter and his potentially exploitable weaknesses, rather than any inferences about a "cover up."

[Howlin]

I believe I would have remembered this, wonder why Scott didn't............ROFLMAO.

[Howlin]

ROFLMAO.

I'm trying to imagine that myself........all sorts of things come to mind!

[woofie]

I would think by now it wiuld be on Matts site ....maybe he is working another angle

[Catspaw]

This new equipment probably explains why a small police force was doing this investigation. They had new equipment that they needed to justify expenditures for by using it!

Well, not exactly. They could get all the new equipment in the world, but if they didn't have training, all they could do was play solitaire.

The state and feds offer training in this area, and I'd bet the officers mentioned in the story took that training and were certified.

That said, one of the freepers on this thread said that they had high sex crimes arrests the year before they got this hardware.

[isthisnickcool]

Thanks! I missed that!

Correct me if I'm wrong about this too but Colonie has a population of around 8,000 or so? And they were doing these kinds of cases? Good for them but if they were to catch a really big fish like Ritter????

This will be interesting to watch.

[Howlin]

Folks thought I was being melodramatic

Of course, you do mean "folks" as in "folks NOT on FR," right?

I believe it.

[Lancey Howard]

WOW!!!
BUMP for great freeping!

It is starting to sound like this arrest was never supposed to see the light of day.

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.

This Ritter is one sick dog. He's toast.
Buh-bye to any credibility he may have once had, even with the liberal press.

[Howlin]

Ma'am, you're enjoying this thread entirely TOO much!