Former U.N. weapons inspector convicted in sex case- Scott Ritter

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Former U.N. weapons inspector convicted in sex case

Scott Ritter, who monitored Iraq from 1991 to 1998 and later became a critic of the U.S.-led invasion, is found guilty of unlawful contact with a minor.

Associated Press

April 15, 2011
Reporting from Stroudsburg, Pa.—

A former United Nations weapons inspector was convicted Thursday of unlawful contact with a minor and five other counts for exchanging explicit messages with an agent posing as a 15-year-old girl and then performing a sex act on himself.

Jurors in Monroe County convicted Scott Ritter, 49, of Delmar, N.Y., of all but one count, acquitting him of a criminal attempt charge. Ritter was arrested in an online sex sting.

"The jury reached the right decision," Monroe County Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Rakaczewski said after the verdict. "They saw the case for what it is and the defendant for what he is and what he did."

Ritter, who testified in his own defense, said he believed the person he met in a Yahoo chat room on Feb. 7, 2009, was an adult acting out her own fantasy.

Neither Ritter nor his lawyer, Gary Kohlman, commented after the verdict.

Sentencing is set for next month. Each felony count carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, but Ritter is likely to get much less under sentencing guidelines.

Ritter was one of the U.N.'s chief weapons inspectors in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. He resigned after accusing the U.S. and U.N. of failing to get tough with Saddam Hussein.

Later, he said Iraq had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction, and he became a vocal critic of the U.S.-led invasion.


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