FBI, State Police raid Bethlehem home of Scott Ritter
BETHLEHEM — FBI agents and State Police on Wednesday raided the home of Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector who in June had his passport seized by the U.S. Department of State as he attempted to fly to Russia for a conference.
Shortly after noon, marked and unmarked State Police vehicles could be seen at Ritter’s Dover Drive home. It was unclear if Ritter was at the residence; efforts to reach him by phone for comment were not successful.
Ritter appears to be in the area: On Tuesday, he posted a photograph of himself on X — the website formerly known as Twitter — alongside independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been in an Albany courtroom this week while lawyers argue over whether he should be allowed on the November ballot in New York.
“Burgers with Bobby!,” wrote Ritter, a repeat guest on Kennedy's podcast; the photo appeared to be taken at a restaurant across from Albany Medical Center Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the FBI confirmed “law enforcement activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation,” but declined further comment. State Police said troopers were aiding the investigation.
Only two months ago, Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Ritter at John F. Kennedy International Airport and confiscated his passport book. The reasons for that seizure remain unclear; Ritter has in recent years become a more passionate supporter of Russia as it has pursued its invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on former Fox News host Andrew Napolitano’s podcast in June, Ritter said three uniformed Customs and Border Protection agents stopped him as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul on his way to Russia.
Ritter said the agents explained they had been told to seize his passport at the request of the State Department. The agents took the document and offered no further explanation for why they were taking it, Ritter said, adding that they did not give him a receipt. His bags were removed from the plane and he was escorted out of the airport’s security area.
At the time, the State Department declined to discuss Ritter’s case.
The State Department can revoke passports for a variety of situations including laws and regulations affecting passport usage by individuals with active warrants or criminal records, fraud concerns, tax debt and child support arrears.
Ritter has a criminal history unconnected to his public stances on foreign policy: He was convicted in 2011 in Monroe County, Penn. after Barrett Township police presented evidence that in 2009 he had masturbated in front of a webcam being viewed by an undercover officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl. He served three years behind bars.
That investigation was not Ritter’s first brush with the law involving allegations of sexual interest in children. In 2001, he was caught in a police sting in which officers said he had tried to lure a Colonie police officer posing as a 16-year-old girl to a Burger King in Menands. The case was effectively dismissed and records were sealed, but information about that incident emerged in 2003.
At the time, Ritter suggested that the case was a smear campaign designed to silence him after he began speaking out against the war in Iraq, including his correct assertion that the U.S. would not uncover significant weapons of mass destruction after it invaded.
In the years since he was released from prison, Ritter has become an enthusiastic supporter of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the war with Ukraine, likening the besieged country to a “rabid dog” and calling the invasion a preemptive act of self-defense. He has been a regular commentator on RT, a Russian state-owned media outlet.
Ritter’s street was quiet Wednesday afternoon as authorities came and went from his house. One neighbor who declined to give her name said that while she did not agree with his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or that he traveled to the country to promote a book, she thought his conviction for child sex offenses was “entrapment.”
“He’s not creepy or anything,” she said. “He’s a good neighbor.”
Jim Hoffman, who has lived across the street from Ritter for two decades, said that he has kept a low profile in the neighborhood.
He also recalled the condemnation Ritter received for his opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He said that he could not recall seeing a police presence outside of the house before, but remembered television news crews outside Ritter's home when he came out against the invasion.
“When he came out against the Iraq War back in early 2000s, he was vilified everywhere,” Hoffman said. “Honestly, he was right. He said there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
