Scott Ritter Speaks Out On 2001 Arrest - Offers his first public comments on controversy

WNYT-TV, Albany ^ | January 22, 2003

[Shermy]

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 22 - Until now, former U.N. weapon's inspector Scott Ritter has declined to speak about allegations he was arrested in an Internet sex sting 19 months ago. However, NewsChannel 13 reached Ritter by phone Wednesday and for the first time he discussed the arrest and the sealed court documents.

...snip...

"The case was dismissed. Therefore it never happened," Ritter said Wednesday.

"I stood in a court of law, before a judge and an assistant district attorney, and they dismissed it," he added.

But the court of public opinion has a different view. The story of Ritter's arrest and the subsequent dismissal of his case first broke over the weekend and dominated headlines in the days that followed.

"I am deeply saddened [by all of the media attention]. Not by anything I've done though."

Ritter refused to speak to NewsChannel 13 on camera. When offered the chance to tell his side of the story on television, he replied, "I'm saying it now."

...snip...

[Williams]

And maybe Ritter is a sicko who tried to have sex with a 14 year old girl. Ritter is being revealed as a pathetic scum. This case was likely "dismissed" because most states have provisions for alternate programs for first offenders. In other words, you go for treatment and stay out of trouble for 6 months, and it is off your record. BUT you can only use these programs once, so a record of your being in it IS kept.

Ritter is trying to make it sound like a judge dismissed the charge as unfounded. He also doesn't regret his actions? Scary unless he truly is innocent. Maybe less scary than a media that will now support the notion the president is responsible for somebody's pedophilia. IF Ritter did this and feels no remorse for it, I should listen to his judgments on Saddam Hussein?

A last thought: We know the Iraqis employ rape of women as a state policy. Would they hesitate to provide kinky sex to one of their "spokespeople" who has a sex problem?

[Dog]

And, of course, RITTER told her that HE suspects the judge!

Scottie just made a very bad mistake...you don't tick off the judge who sealed your records.....he might UNSEAL them ....and then let the world see you did that night...

[Xenalyte]

If they had him why was the case dismissed and/or sealed?

Very good question.

[AdA$tra]

....it's not GONE.....

When I worked in the title insurance business there was a file cabinet in the basement full of "expunged" cases alphabetized by last name. Definately not gone. Not even forgotten. Ritter should be in jail.

[Taffini]

Dear porn-boy,
You are like the drunk driver that almost incinerated me and my mom in that flaming car accident. It wasn't the first time he drove drunk, it was the one time he got caught. You got caught TWICE stupid. How many nights did you spend at the computer luring little girls to the Burger King? I would be puking if I were a Marine. How did you get into the service freak?

[Howlin]

I had forgotten about that! Spies and weapons inspectors......LOL! And you're the first person I've seen connect those dots!

[billhilly]

And speaking of speaking, how about these apples?


Ritter is scheduled to give a speech Feb. 12 at Schenectady County Community College. There are no plans to cancel Ritter's appearance, for which he'll be paid $4,000, SCCC spokesperson Heather Meaney said.

[MinuteGal]

"The case was dismissed".....

He's playing for time with his terse comments and non-comments till he can craft a PR offensive.

Careful of this guy. Despite the fact we think he's a dummy as well as a pedophile, I believe he's crafty and clever in a way that sometimes a possessed or unbalanced person can be. He will dig in and fight back.

Plus I think he is still a present danger to our national security in some way I can't put my finger on. Who knows what classified info that was available to him that he passed on or is still passing to Saddam's operatives in this country or elsewhere?

I also have a strong hunch it was our government who put the kibosh on his trip to Iraq scheduled for last night, not his own choice. Perhaps some innocuous bureaucratic roadblocks quietly put in his way to delay his trip or to cause him to put it off indefinitely.

Leni

[robertpaulsen]

"Now go hang out with your little friends."

SAY HELLO TO MY LEETEL FRENN

[Howlin]

Well, spectre heard it, too. I don't believe I misconstrued what she said OR what she insinuated. And she said it more than once.

[Timesink]

I had to excerpt the article, being NBC related.

No, NBC articles are fine to post. It's Newsweek articles that need to be excerpted, and they happen to use MSNBC as their home site. But as long as it's not from the Newsweek section or a reprint of a Washington Post article, you can post anything from MSNBC in full.

[finnman69]

So he's a LIAR and a Pedophile perv.

[Howlin]

That's what she said; "hired by the Bush team."

[aristeides]

I also have a strong hunch it was our government who put the kibosh on his trip to Iraq scheduled for last night, not his own choice. Perhaps some innocuous bureaucratic roadblocks quietly put in his way to delay his trip or to cause him to put it off indefinitely.

Think the leak of Ritter's run-in with the law might have been for the purpose of preventing his trip to Iraq?

[Timesink]

An annulled marriage doesn't mean the marriage never existed. It just means the church will pretend it didn't.

[cmsgop]

[Southack]

"My guess is that Ritter found out that Iraq had the goods on him about this perversion, and that explains his switch on the Iraqi WMD!!"

Iraq doesn't have the Intelligence "reach" to trap a former weapons inspector in the U.S., however, there are a couple of intelligence agencies that do, and a few of those even have governments who want to do just about anything to keep the U.S. out of Iraq (e.g. France, Germany, Belgium).

[Sloopy]

This is exactly why character matters. Smarmy individuals are vulnerable to blackmail.

[CyberCowboy777]

Russia

[billhilly]

This morning on Fox news, Judge Nepolitano, a fixture on Fox talk shows, said the action that was taken in the Ritter case actually allows him to deny that he was ever arrested if asked. Such is the law.