Former UN inspector arrested in 'sex sting'
Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has been arrested for allegedly propositioning what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl on an internet chat room.
By Paul Thompson in Miami
Published: 7:25PM GMT 14 Jan 2010
Scott Ritter is facing up to ten years in jail Photo: AP
Ritter, who served as chief weapons inspector in Iraq, told the girl he wanted to have sex with her, police alleged.
However, the person he was in contact with was an undercover police officer in an online chat room seeking out child predators.
Ritter, 44, is facing up to ten years in jail and a lifetime on the sex offenders register after being charged with child endangerment.
According to an arrest affidavit Ritter struck up a conversation in a chat room with a girl called "Emily".
He told her he was a 44-year-old male from Albany, New York.
But "Emily" was Ryan Venneman, an officer from Barrett Township Police.
Ritter asked for a photo of the girl, then sent her a link to his webcam.
The arrest warrant said Ritter told Emily he had been fantasising about having sex with her
The online conversation occurred in February 2009, but the investigation lasted until November, when Ritter was charged.
Police had to go to court to get a warrant to obtain Ritter's mobile phone records and computer information.
Ritter has been free on bail since waiving a Dec. 17 preliminary hearing. His lawyer refused to comment.
He was the chief weapons inspector for the UN from 1991-1998 and charged with finding Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
