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Feds obtain sealed case of Ritter's arrest
AP | 1/25/03

Posted on 01/25/2003 3:07:17 PM PST by kattracks

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Federal authorities have obtained the sealed records in the alleged Internet sex sting of former U.N. chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter to review for possible federal charges.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi signed an order Thursday requiring police and Albany County prosecutors to provide records and any evidence to the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office.

Federal authorities filed a motion earlier in the week to obtain the records to determine whether federal laws were violated, the Daily Gazette of Schenectady and the Times Union of Albany reported in Saturday editions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak refused to comment to the newspapers. A message to his office by The Associated Press was not immediately returned Saturday.

Ritter, 41, a critic of the Bush administration's push toward war with Iraq, acknowledged his June 2001 arrest this week in national television appearances but said he was prohibited from discussing details because the charges had been dismissed and the records sealed.

Ritter has suggested recent news reports about the arrest were an attempt to silence him. He said the publicity has forced him to cancel a recent trip to Baghdad, where he said he would have offered an alternative to military action.

Broadcast reports when he was arrested and recent newspaper reports have indicated Ritter was caught in an Internet sex sting, something he did not admit.

At the time of the arrest, NBC station WNYT-TV of Albany reported that William Scott Ritter Jr. -- Ritter's full name -- was charged with trying to lure an undercover police officer posing as a 16-year-old girl to a restaurant.

WNYT broadcast Ritter's mug shot but did not make the connection to his role as the chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq during most of the 1990s.

He was charged with attempted endangerment of a child, a misdemeanor that carries up to 90 days in jail, reports said. The case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, meaning that if he stayed out of trouble for six months, the charges would disappear and the file would be sealed.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 14islegaliniraq; bonerking; havingitmyway; holdthepickle; homeofthewhopper; scottritter; traitorbusted
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To: Howlin; cyncooper; nicmarlo
WAIT, there's more:

CRIER: "This judge sealed records. We don't know how they got to the press and I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judical Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this.

AND I just certainly hope that a sitting town Judge isn't violating someone's rights by passing off sealed records to the media".

Disgusting!

361 posted on 01/26/2003 10:14:08 AM PST by spectre (spectre's wife (REWARD, Help me find my moral compass))
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To: spectre
Catherine Crier states:

"I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judical Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this."

Where did Ms. Crier obtain this "bunch of information", hmmmm? Sounds like a war-room strategy to me.

I have to say I never really discerned her political leanings before--and if I did suspect she was liberal I didn't suspect she was so susceptible to taking talking points at face value.

Yes, I would love to know where she got this "bunch of information".

362 posted on 01/26/2003 10:22:02 AM PST by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper
I have to tell you this: I have always liked Catherine Crier; and everybody knows I am a BushBot.

That being said, she was STRIDENT in her discussion of this; she talked more about the leak than about Ritter's arrest.

I thought she was way out of line. Way.

363 posted on 01/26/2003 10:23:49 AM PST by Howlin (he has friends in high places)
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To: Miss Marple
I thought I saw, but perhaps it was wishful thinking on my part, that the Newsweek fellow had a sheen of sweat on his brow by discussion's end.

He sounded so lame.

(I recognized him, but didn't take down his name)

364 posted on 01/26/2003 10:24:14 AM PST by cyncooper
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To: CyberAnt
Hmm, good point, he did say something to that effect on CNN the other day. This is very interesting.
365 posted on 01/26/2003 10:30:27 AM PST by agrace
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To: Miss Marple; nicmarlo
I think we should start a thread where we track exactly where and when the story appears in regioinal and national papers.

I've noticed nicmarlo has done some great research in this area.

366 posted on 01/26/2003 10:36:42 AM PST by cyncooper
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To: Howlin
Howlin, Crier only needed to know that a man had porno tapes of children to forever label him a "sick, perverted, disgusting, pedophile." THESE are her words. Most people agreed with her. But the issue is, she stayed with her convictions on what a Pedophile was for 6 months.

Flash forward.

She is a HYPOCRITE because she dismissed Ritter's perversion, suggesting that a few months of "counseling" was going to cure his deviant behavior.

Her contrary opinions and reversal on how Pedophiles should be punished, puts her bias towards Republicans ahead of being a champion for justice for sexually exploited children.

Ritter is a sick man, and there is no way he is cured of his desires. He still wants to get it off in front on young girls..nothing has changed.

367 posted on 01/26/2003 10:50:36 AM PST by spectre (spectre's wife (REWARD, Help me find my moral compass))
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To: Miss Marple
We know RATS were involved in this. The lack of coverage in the main RAT papers says it all. Like Dicker said on Reliable Souces, "If this was a pro-Bush voice, they'd all be covering it." Perhaps the clintons were involved in the cover-up - that is the best explanation for why this is being side-stepped by the liberal print media. Am I speculating? Sure, but isn't everyone?
368 posted on 01/26/2003 10:52:38 AM PST by Wait4Truth (I HATE THE MEDIA!!!)
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To: spectre; cyncooper; seamole
My letter to Catherine Crier:

You should make a total retraction for your disgraceful remarks on your Friday show about the judge in the Scott Ritter case being on the payroll of George W. Bush and perhaps leaking those documents about Ritter's arrest.

From your show:

"I understand the Judge in this case, who sealed the file, actually worked for the President and has been working for Republicans for a very, very long time. Any sense somebody working at the courthouse actually passed this along to the press"?

and

"This judge sealed records. We don't know how they got to the press and I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judicial Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this. AND I just certainly hope that a sitting town Judge isn't violating someone's rights by passing off sealed records to the media".

Ms. Crier, that, in fact, is a bold faced lie; I have no idea where you got your information, and if you don't know by now that you have THE WRONG JUDGE, you need better researchers.

I have always been a fan of yours, but your shocking discussion of this matter has made me question your objectivity in other situations. In my opinion, you insinuated that the details of this incident were leaked to silence an opponent of President George W. Bush.

In light of the fact that YOU, the host of the show, did not have your facts straight and therefore totally misrepresented what may or may not have happened in this situation, I would think that you owe your viewers an explanation AND TOTAL RETRACTION concering the judge on your Monday show; it's your duty to correct the record before your absolute distortions of the truth are repeated as fact over and over and become the "facts" of this matter.

I have, by carbon copy, alerted Accuracy in Media of this matter.

XXXX

Raleigh, NC

369 posted on 01/26/2003 11:02:02 AM PST by Howlin (he has friends in high places)
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To: eddie willers; Miss Marple; Mo1; JeanS; Wait4Truth; MJY1288; nicmarlo; cake_crumb; Grampa Dave
See above.
370 posted on 01/26/2003 11:08:45 AM PST by Howlin (he has friends in high places)
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To: Howlin
Howlin THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!

Too bad you weren't on hand to swiftly transcribe it. (There's more).

The fact that you added "I have alerted the media", should get her attention...you go girl!

371 posted on 01/26/2003 11:11:44 AM PST by spectre (spectre's wife)
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To: Howlin
Excellent. I think you should send a copy to Howie Kurtz as well. Also Britt Hume.

And I think that the judge in New York should threaten her with a lawsuit. HA!

372 posted on 01/26/2003 11:12:47 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple
I'll do just that.
373 posted on 01/26/2003 11:14:54 AM PST by Howlin (he has friends in high places)
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To: Howlin
You know, Court TV usually has pretty good research. I wonder if she was working from some "talking points" given to her by someone outside of the network.

I also wonder if this is why Newsday jumped on the story at first...becaus SOMEONE was thinking they could tie Bush into this...only whoever wrote the talking points was TOO STUPID to realize this was not the judge from Floroida! HA!

374 posted on 01/26/2003 11:15:33 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Howlin
You might get a better response with a letter to the board of Time/Warner/AOL demanding that she be fired for lying to the American Public due to her political bias.

Good for you and others who picked up on this. I can't CNN. The day that I got my Dish Satellite system, I blocked viewing of CNN. That was over 3 years ago.
375 posted on 01/26/2003 11:16:47 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Stop future Freepathons! Become a monthly donor! Only you can prevent Freepathons!)
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To: spectre
Maybe Ritter will move to England for this.
376 posted on 01/26/2003 11:17:27 AM PST by mountaineer
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To: Howlin
and if you don't know by now that you have THE WRONG JUDGE,

Are you thinking Spargo?

I have real doubts that the one to seal it (Crummey) would be the one to leak it.
Perhaps Crier has two separate actions mixed up.

Since Spargo's the State Supreme Ct. Justice, would he not have access to the records? He was the one criticized for being in the "Brooks Brothers" (righteous) protest.

377 posted on 01/26/2003 11:20:47 AM PST by eddie willers
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To: Miss Marple; PhiKapMom; eddie willers; spectre; cyncooper; Wait4Truth; All
This is the letter I sent to Accuracy in Media, Brit Hume, etc.

You should take a look at Catherine Crier's show from last Friday; she was interviewing Scott Ritter about his arrest in New York.

However, she was MUCH more interested in how the information was "leaked," as she said on her show, than she was in the fact that Ritter's arrest has caused many, many questions about how it was handled. Nor was she interested in the facts of Ritter's actual arrest.

She went on to say

(paraphrasing from a transcript someone made from a tape of the show)

"I understand the Judge in this case, who sealed the file, actually worked for the President and has been working for Republicans for a very, very long time. Any sense somebody working at the courthouse actually passed this along to the press"?

and

"This judge sealed records. We don't know how they got to the press and I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judicial Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this. AND I just certainly hope that a sitting town Judge isn't violating someone's rights by passing off sealed records to the media".

Unfortunately for Ms. Crier, the judge in this case is named Peter G. Crummey. He was NOT involved in the 2002 Florida recount, even though he IS a Republican.

Here is what a cursory search on the internet would have found:

According to Google's cache, the Schenectady Daily Gazette reported:

"The Commission on Judicial Conduct is facing what could become a significant court test about the way it operates.

"State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo of Albany County is challenging the charges brought against him by the commission for engaging in allegedly impermissible election activities. Among other things, Spargo is accused of participating in a "loud and obstructive" demonstration in Florida in favor of George W. Bush's election during that state's vote recount in the 2000 presidential balloting.

"Spargo, a Republican activist and election law expert, contends he was within his constitutional free speech rights in all instances. Federal court Judge David Hurd in Utica is weighing a decision."

If you have a chance to review that show, you will see that Ms. Crier took GREAT delight in "dishing this dirt," which, in fact, turned out to be TOTALLY false. She insinuated that George Bush and his friends just may have "outted" Scott Ritter to shut him up.

It was one of the most disgusting things I have EVER seen on TV.

XXXXXX

Raleigh, NC.

378 posted on 01/26/2003 11:23:19 AM PST by Howlin (he has friends in high places)
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To: Howlin
Wow, Howlin! What a spectacular letter! Kudos to you and for CCing Accuracy in Media. If she retracts and apologizes, you get the credit. Congratulations!
379 posted on 01/26/2003 11:24:57 AM PST by Wait4Truth (I HATE THE MEDIA!!!)
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To: Howlin
"This judge sealed records. We don't know how they got to the press and I was just curious to read a bunch of information about he actually was hired to aid now President Bush, he went down to Florida and sort of protested during the 2000 elections. That was very, very activist..which actually the Judicial Ethics Committee has frowned upon and looked at some of this. AND I just certainly hope that a sitting town Judge isn't violating someone's rights by passing off sealed records to the media".

Is that what she said???

WOW!!! .. that is one hell of an accusation to make with NO FACTS to back it up.

380 posted on 01/26/2003 11:42:24 AM PST by Mo1 (I Hate The Party of Bill Clinton)
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