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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: The Great Satan
Plus, working in Russia for years and marrying a very young Russian girl.

Notice how the press only mentions he was a Marine when they describe him.

41 posted on 01/25/2003 3:35:39 PM PST by Deb
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To: Lancey Howard
   The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.
 
bold-faced
 
PRONUNCIATION: bldfst
ADJECTIVE: 1. Impudent; brazen: a bold-faced lie. 2. Printed in thick, heavy type.

42 posted on 01/25/2003 3:35:54 PM PST by sarcasm
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Comment #43 Removed by Moderator

To: kattracks
A possible federal case against Ritter could include the charge of using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in criminal activity, sources said.

Over the last week, former prosecutors have questioned the way the Ritter case was handled. Albany County's Clyne, while not discussing the Ritter case, said he would not approve of charges involving the luring of a teenager girl over the Internet to a sexual encounter to be disposed of as a low-level dismissal. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Kinsella, who retired last year as head of the Albany office's Criminal Division and is now an attorney in private practice, feels Ritter may have gotten off easy.

"He was allegedly involved in what otherwise would be felony conduct, and it was charged as a Class B misdemeanor and disposed of and there's no apparent good reason for it, given the seriousness of the alleged conduct," Kinsella said.

See #33

44 posted on 01/25/2003 3:39:15 PM PST by woofie
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To: The Great Satan
"Which is a bald-faced lie, just like his earlier "you've got the wrong guy" statement was a bald-faced lie."

Yep. The records were sealed in return for a guilty plea to a "much lesser charge"

45 posted on 01/25/2003 3:41:37 PM PST by cake_crumb (Typos are my frends. They follow me wherever I go.)
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To: kattracks
Why is everything posted on FR first, and then you finally find it an hour or two later on google searches? Here, now, another article posted 30 minutes ago:

Feds reviewing Ritter's records
U.S. attorney's office looking into charges
in connection with Internet sex-sting arrest
Posted: January 25, 2003
5:35 p.m. Eastern
World Net Daily

46 posted on 01/25/2003 3:43:27 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: cake_crumb
was approved by Colonie Town Justice Peter Crummey.

Is this the first sighting of the judge involved? At any rate, in case you missed it, (I did), there it is.

47 posted on 01/25/2003 3:44:55 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: woofie
BINGO! I was wondering how with all the concern about children being lured into sex with adults, a charge like this was one of those dismissed if you stay out of trouble for 6 months misdemeanors. Now we know it isn't.

He got one hell of a special break and the media is largely silent on this as well. Explains why the assistant DA was fired.

48 posted on 01/25/2003 3:45:57 PM PST by Williams
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To: kattracks
This guy's gonna get crapped on so hard they will start calling him "kitty ritter."
49 posted on 01/25/2003 3:46:15 PM PST by Enterprise
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To: per loin; Concerned; All
Ping

FYI, per loin first posted hearing about this on FOX around 3:20 this afternoon here:

Feds Investigating Ritter's Arrest

50 posted on 01/25/2003 3:49:30 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: The Finman
Ping.....AP and World Net Daily picked up the story (finally).
51 posted on 01/25/2003 3:51:42 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: HAL9000
"I'm still amazed at that."

IIRC, he had only just moved to Delmar from Florida at the time...and he wasn't on TV every night...it's doubtful anyone knew who he was, though I have a sneaking suspicion that he played the full "important former UN spector" orchastra for the assistant DA. And probably the judge: appealing to their wish NOT to compromise such an august body as the UN, especially what with all the ongoing problems with Saddam. The UN is SOOOOO important to world peace.

This is only a suspicion, because it's the logical course of defensive offense for a perp in his position who was caught with the goods in hand, as it were.

52 posted on 01/25/2003 3:54:59 PM PST by cake_crumb (Typos are my frends. They follow me wherever I go.)
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To: Mo1
"Wasn't there a thread about a UN inspector being caught on tape by the Iraqis or something like that?"

From Paul Wolfowitz, January 23, 2003:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/828158/posts

"Intimidation and Coercion: In the past, Iraq did not hesitate to use pressure tactics to obtain information about the inspectors. Often the pressure was quite crude. During the UNSCOM period, one inspector was reportedly filmed in a compromising situation and blackmailed."


53 posted on 01/25/2003 3:57:34 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: doug from upland
Will you look at this....Isn't this the guy that threatens the President in his writings most everyday at a certain dnc democratic web site?

William Rivers Pitt is a Democrat, Middle East expert and activist. He lives in Boston, USA.

I don't think he is a expert on anything but how to make threats against our President. I mean CNN and MSNBC won't even let him on TV. He is unbalanced and insane I think.

Look here....

Scott Ritter and other inspectors confirmed that Saddam Hussein’s chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programme had effectively been destroyed. This undermines Bush and Blair’s premise for waging war on Iraq. If the weapons aren’t there what is the war about?

Ritter and Pitt explore the White House (and No. 10 Downing Street’s) premises for war, and show the complete lack of any plausible link between Hussein and al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden, like Bush, has also called for the death of Saddam Hussein. Ritter and Pitt show why a forced ‘regime change’ is absurd and won’t lead to democracy in a nation divided for centuries. And they have a bleak forecast of the possible consequences for American and British troops if there is a ground war.

http://www.profilebooks.co.uk/procat/2002/Ritter_02.htm
54 posted on 01/25/2003 3:58:47 PM PST by TLBSHOW (Slamming the liberal bias media but GOOD!)
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To: Mo1
"Wasn't there a thread about a UN inspector being caught on tape by the Iraqis or something like that?"

Yep: Wolfowitz's comments to the UN Council on Foreign Relations (ironic, no?)

"Intimidation and Coercion: In the past, Iraq did not hesitate to use pressure tactics to obtain information about the inspectors. Often the pressure was quite crude. During the UNSCOM period, one inspector was reportedly filmed in a compromising situation and blackmailed."

55 posted on 01/25/2003 4:03:10 PM PST by cake_crumb (Typos are my frends. They follow me wherever I go.)
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To: nicmarlo
Thanks for the link, nic! Sheesh, try to take a break from "all news all the time" so flip off Fox and you miss something.

But, wait! Thanks to FR I didn't miss it!

56 posted on 01/25/2003 4:03:40 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper
But, wait! Thanks to FR I didn't miss it!

So very true!

57 posted on 01/25/2003 4:06:16 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: sarcasm
Same Dictionary defines bald-faced (so think I'll stick to the way I learned it):

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
bald-faced
PRONUNCIATION: bôldfst
ADJECTIVE: 1. Brash; undisguised: a bald-faced lie. 2. Zoology Having a white face or face markings.

58 posted on 01/25/2003 4:07:07 PM PST by Let's Roll (Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.)
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To: woofie
"Albany County's Clyne, while not discussing the Ritter case, said he would not approve of charges involving the luring of a teenager girl over the Internet to a sexual encounter to be disposed of as a low-level dismissal. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Kinsella, who retired last year as head of the Albany office's Criminal Division and is now an attorney in private practice, feels Ritter may have gotten off easy."

It's about time the AP started telling at least a BIT of the truth and stopped blaming Scuddie's self inflicted problems on the VRWC.

59 posted on 01/25/2003 4:07:53 PM PST by cake_crumb (Typos are my frends. They follow me wherever I go.)
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To: cake_crumb
Wonder if Scottie was forced to resign his position in 1998, the reason for which was 'sealed?'
60 posted on 01/25/2003 4:09:09 PM PST by tetelestai
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