Trial delayed for former UN weapons inspector charged in Pennsylvania child-sex sting

Trial delayed for ex-UN inspector charged in sting

STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The trial of a former United Nations weapons inspector in an online child-sex sting in Pennsylvania has been delayed.

Authorities allege Scott Ritter of Delmar, N.Y., engaged in a sexually graphic online chat with an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. Officials say he turned on a webcam and performed a sex act.

Jury selection was to begin this week in Stroudsburg, Pa., but a judge has not yet ruled on a defense motion to dismiss the case. District Attorney David Christine says the earliest the trial will begin is November.

Ritter was a UN weapons inspector from 1991 to 1998, and became a harsh critic of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy. He blamed a 2001 sex-sting arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war. Those charges were dismissed.