Former chief UN weapons inspector convicted in online sex chat sting with 'girl, 15'



A former chief UN weapons inspector in court for sending explicit on line messages to a '15-year-old girl' and then streaming a video of himself performing a sex act has been convicted.



Scott Ritter exchanged online messages with '15-year-old Emily' - in reality undercover policeman Ryan Venneman - before masturbating in front of a web cam after the undercover officer stressed he was a minor, prosecutors said.



The court heard 49-year-old Ritter's on line chat with 'Emily' in February 2009 was actually the third such encounter since he quit his job as chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq in 1998. He later became a vocal critic of the Bush administration's war in the country.



Accused: Scott Ritter was found guilty after a court saw evidence of him exchanging sexually graphic messages with a 15-year-old

Exit: Ritter leaves court with what is thought to be one of his daughters (left) and possibly his wife (middle)

The jury deliberated two days before finding Ritter guilty of six of the seven charges against him.



One was a misdemeanor, indecent exposure, and the rest were felonies, including three charges of unlawful conduct with a minor, criminal attempt to corrupt a minor and criminal use of a communications device.



Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Michael Rakaczewski said: 'The jury reached the right decision.

'They saw the case for what it is and the defendant for what he is and what he did.'

'Even though a person may know what they're doing is wrong, they may be intelligent enough to try to avoid and get away (with it).

'Sometimes, the internal drive to engage in these types of deviant sexual behaviours is just too strong.'

Sentencing is set for next month. Each of the five felony counts carries a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison, but Ritter is likely to get much less under sentencing guidelines.

Kohlman acknowledged in his closing argument that jurors were likely 'troubled and offended' by the graphic chat and video of Ritter that prosecutors played, but said they were required to put aside their personal distaste because 'this is not a referendum on whether anybody in the courtroom approves of adult chat rooms.'

He said the case turned on Ritter's intent.

Ritter took the witness stand in his own defence Wednesday and said he believed the person he met in a Yahoo chat room on Feb. 7, 2009, was an adult acting out her own fantasy.

Ritter at UN headquarters in Baghdad in an undated image. He claimed the charges are a smear campaign in retaliation for his outspoken stance against US policy in the Middle East

Ritter was the chief weapons inspector for the UN from 1991-1998 and charged with finding Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

He quit in 1998 after the US failed to take any action against Baghdad over their refusal to co-operate fully with his inspection teams.

He became one of the most outspoken critics of US policy toward Baghdad.

Ritter first made headlines in 1997 when, as a senior UNSCOM member, he was accused by Iraq of being an American spy himself.

Kohlman had previously blamed Ritter's behaviour in 2001 on his state of depression over resigning as chief U.N. weapons inspector.

During the case, the graphic content of the on line conversation between Ritter and 'Emily' was witnessed by Ritter's two 18-year-old daughters.

They both left the courtroom before the prosecution played the graphic video their father shot of himself with his web camera during the chat.

For nearly 30 minutes, the jury of seven women and five men, lawyers and Monroe County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Sibum watched silently as a large-screen TV showed images of Ritter masturbating, initially wearing a shirt, but eventually naked.

Kohlman noted that the on line profile Venneman created for the chat listed Emily's age as 24.

The prosecution transcript, meanwhile, notes 'Emily' twice told Ritter 'she' was 15 years old.

Kohlman told the jury that Ritter was simply role-playing and fantasising, and there is nothing illegal about adults doing that.

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, shown here in 2002, has been convicted on six of seven counts



According to an arrest affidavit, Ritter struck up a conversation in a chat room with 'Emily' using the name 'Delmarm4fun'.

The report said he told her he was a 44-year-old male from Albany, New York.

Ritter, who is believed to be married, asked for a photo of the girl, then sent her a link to his webcam and began to pleasure himself on camera.

After Emily asked Ritter for his mobile phone number he again asked her age.



When she replied she was 15 he said he did not want to get in trouble and turned off the camera.

The arrest warrant said Ritter told Emily he had been fantasising about having sex with her to which she replied: 'Guess you turned it off ...'

Ritter then said: 'You want to see it finish,' reactivated his webcam and continued masturbating.

The online conversation occurred in February 2009, but the investigation lasted until November, when Ritter was charged.

Ritter now works as a consultant, and is the author of 'Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America' and 'Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and For All.'