Feds obtain sealed case of Ritter's arrest

AP | 1/25/03

[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.

[woofie]

oops ..I dropped my whopper...

[Commander8]

If it was some set up it doesn't matter, it's still Ritter's fault for biting the bait on the hook.

[The Great Satan]

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.

Which is a bald-faced lie, just like his earlier "you've got the wrong guy" statement was a bald-faced lie.

[kattracks]

ping

[woofie]

oops ..I dropped my whopper...

Now look at me,I have secret sauce all over my pants

[Taffini]

ritter wanted an inexperienced 14 year old--someone who couldn't make comparisons

[CyberAnt]

Soooooo, Ritter thought because they dismissed and sealed his case that it just didn't exist any more - WRONG!!!!

[GrandMoM]

....YES!

....there is a GOD!

[Timesink]

...to review for possible federal charges.

Maybe THIS is why he "couldn't go to Iraq": Because he was told not to leave the country.

[cynicom]

Feds smell bribe and or extortion???

[The Great Satan]

Or treason?

[sam_paine]

Actually, his statements were bold-faced lies! (Think about it, you can say something with a straight face, a 'bold' face or you can say it with a 'bald' face. This phrase has gotten lost in language!!!) (/ rant)

[rintense]

Busted!

[cynicom]

Yes, treason as a result of blackmail/extortion????

[JAWs]

More like interstate trafficing. He reached out across state lines through the channels of interstate commerce to hunt jailbait. That brings in Uncle Sam.

[HAL9000]

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.

I'm still amazed at that.

[Conservonanza]

Let's see. Ritter was in Iraq for how long?

Betcha that the Iraqis have plenty of film, movie and stills of little Scottie with lots of Saddam supplied children for Ritter to "enjoy".

Money alone wouldn't be the cause of this man's about faced idiocy.

Fright and frustration of knowing he was on lots and lots of film might, though.

[Timesink]

I'm still amazed at that.

Never underestimate the utter cluelessness of the average local TV station's producers and reporters.

[cynicom]

Possible but I quicker think they are anticipating a link to Iraq.