STROUDSBURG, Pa. – from www.myfoxdc.com – A former UN weapons inspector busted in an online sex sting was sentenced to 18 months to five and a half years in state prison by a Pennsylvania court Wednesday.
Scott Ritter, 50, of Delmar, N.Y., was convicted by a jury in April of illegally contacting what appeared to be a 15-year-old girl in an online adult chat room and exposing his genitalia on a webcam to that person.
The “girl,” who Ritter contacted in February 2009, turned out to be a Barrett Township police officer posing undercover to catch sexual predators online, the Pocono Record reported.
Following his sentencing in Monroe County Court, Stroudsburg, on Wednesday afternoon, Ritter was led out in handcuffs and sent to Monroe County Correctional Facility, where he will remain until it is determined at which state prison he will serve his sentence.
Monroe County Judge Jennifer Sibum denied his request for bond and deferment of the sentence until his appeal is heard. Ritter on Wednesday also lost his bid for a new trial in county court.
Ritter testified in his own defense at his April trial that he believed the person he met in a Yahoo chat room in 2009 was an adult acting out her own fantasy. A jury convicted him on six counts, including unlawful contact with a minor.
Shortly before he was sentenced Wednesday, Ritter addressed the court in a clear, steady voice.
“A lifetime of accomplishments weighed against a moment of human frailty. I take full responsibility for my actions. This should never have been made public. Something like this should be kept between a man and his family,” he told the court.
Ritter said his wife and 18-year-old twin daughters have forgiven him and that he plans to spend the rest of his life being worthy of that forgiveness.
“If any man can stand here and say he’s learned his lesson, I can. My family needs me now more than ever. And I need them now more than ever,” Ritter added.
He had sought a new trial, citing an appeals court ruling in New York that records from two previous incidents in that state in 2001 should not have been unsealed and given to prosecutors in Pennsylvania to be used at his trial.
Defense attorney Gary Kohlman argued the New York ruling entitled Ritter to a new trial because prosecutors based much of their strategy on the argument that Ritter had a history of illicit online sex.
Following Ritter’s controversial resignation from the UN in 1998, he became a vocal critic of US military action in Iraq.
He told police that his resignation from the UN had led him into depression and self-destructive behavior that he had been hiding from his family, according to records.