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.
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!
"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".
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.
He sounded so lame.
(I recognized him, but didn't take down his name)
I've noticed nicmarlo has done some great research in this area.
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.
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
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!
And I think that the judge in New York should threaten her with a lawsuit. HA!
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!
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.
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.
Is that what she said???
WOW!!! .. that is one hell of an accusation to make with NO FACTS to back it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.