Ex-UN inspector gets prison in Pa. sex case

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Associated Press

STROUDSBURG, Pa. - (AP) -- A former United Nations weapons inspector who exchanged explicit online messages with a detective posing as a 15-year-old girl and then performed a sex act on himself in front of a webcam was sentenced Wednesday to at least 1 1/2 years in state prison.

Scott Ritter, 50, was taken into custody immediately after Monroe County Judge Jennifer Sibum sentenced him to 18 to 66 months behind bars. It was the second time in eight years that Ritter, of Delmar, N.Y., found himself in legal trouble for trying to lure underage girls into illicit sex.

Ritter, who maintains his behavior was shameful but not criminal, must register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law.

"I had no business being in a chatroom on Feb. 7, 2009," Ritter told the court Wednesday. "I've asked my wife for forgiveness, and I've asked my daughters for forgiveness, and they have given it to me."

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/ex-un-inspector-gets-prison-in-pa-sex-case-1.3273451

[Kingofalldems]

1. He posted gleefully.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. It's a good thing when a serial child sexual predator is sent to jail

Hopefully he will get some help while in prison so that he does not this when he is released.

[Ian David]

2. Well, there is your lead story on Fox all day tomorrow. n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

3. This is the same Ritter that went up against the Bush/Cheney. Hmm something fishy.

[PSPS]

4. More thought crime.

[msanthrope]

6. Whacking off to person you think is a minor isn't a thought crime. It's also his third bite at the

apple.

Had he merely kept his thoughts to himself, then no problem. But that's not what happened here.

[PSPS]

7. Oh? Please identify the "victim" in this "crime."

Nobody involved in this was a minor.

[msanthrope]

8. As another poster pointed out, when you hire an undercover cop as a 'hitman' you don't have

an actual victim, merely an intended one. The crime is evidenced by your actions that reveal your INTENT.

When you buy fake drugs? Same premise.

Look, the law doesn't excuse you because you are an ineffectual criminal, or a dumbass.

[PSPS]

9. Sorry, it's not the same thing.

No third party was involved. Nobody here was "hired" to do anything, let alone anything illegal. And the alleged "victim" in this case couldn't have been the victim of anything that transpired here anyway.

Here's a simple way of identifying thought crime:

Remove whatever it is that's distasteful to you from the scenario. In this case, it apparently is the fictitious age of the woman. If what you have left is still a crime, then you would be right. In this case, of course, it isn't a crime. So there you go -- thought crime. Ritter wasn't thinking proper thoughts so, therefore, he must be destroyed.

[msanthrope]

5. Third offense, He got what he deserved. nt