Dakota Valkyrie
February 21st, 2009, 01:07 PM
http://i39.tinypic.com/34hcoqc.jpghttp://i42.tinypic.com/2dhi72t.jpgThe boy's mother first noticed the vulgar text messages on her son's cell phone around Thanksgiving weekend. She thought the 14-year-old was sending the messages to a girl and took the phone away from him.
While she had the phone, it sounded, showing that a text message had arrived. It wasn't from a girl.
It was from Gregory G. Ritter, a longtime Boy Scout volunteer and Bethlehem teacher her son met during Scout camp the past summer.
The boy and Ritter had struck up a friendship that continued after camp ended. They had spent several weekends together, including Thanksgiving break, at Ritter's home in the Poconos.
Posing as her son, the mother sent a text message in response, asking Ritter what he enjoyed most about their weekend together and what he would be thinking about in bed. Ritter allegedly responded with an explicit reference to the intimacy he and the boy had shared.
Ritter then asked if the boy had erased earlier text messages he had sent. Suspecting the boy hadn't done so, or that someone else had the phone, Ritter changed the subject. His final text message said, ''Thanks for throwing football and baseball I don't get the chance to do it. It was the best part this weekend…''
But it was too late. Ritter was caught, police say.
The boy's mother contacted state police the next day, which led to an investigation and sexual assault charges against Ritter, a popular East Hills Middle School teacher who founded a highly touted and award-winning environmental program called Monagacci for seventh-graders.
Ritter, 44, of Palmyra Township, Pike County, was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, indecent assault, attempt to commit unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility.
The Boy Scouts permanently barred Ritter, who had been with the Scouts as a member or volunteer for most of his life. And the Bethlehem Area School District suspended Ritter from East Hills, where he started the Monagacci program in 1994.
According to the arrest affidavit:
A day after reading the text messages, the boy's mother on Dec. 1 contacted state police at the Bethlehem barracks about her son's alleged sexual encounter with Ritter, whom he met at last year's Trexler Scout Reservation summer camp in Monroe County's West End.
The mother told police she had confronted Ritter, who allegedly admitted a sexual liaison had occurred and said he had been upset about it ever since and was contemplating suicide. Ritter said he wanted to explain to her son that what he did was wrong.
Police interviewed the boy, who said Ritter performed a sex act on him during his Thanksgiving visit to his cabin on Nov. 29 and Ritter exposed himself to him. Later that night, the boy said, he woke up to find Ritter fondling him. The boy also said Ritter showed him a pornographic video.
During a Jan. 22 interview with troopers, Ritter admitted the boy spent weekends at his home at least twice, that they slept in the same bed and that he sent the boy inappropriate text messages.
Two weeks ago, state police at Bethlehem transferred the investigation to troopers at the Blooming Grove barracks in Pike County, because the alleged crimes occurred in their jurisdiction.http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5ritter.6791946feb21,0,1871783.story
While she had the phone, it sounded, showing that a text message had arrived. It wasn't from a girl.
It was from Gregory G. Ritter, a longtime Boy Scout volunteer and Bethlehem teacher her son met during Scout camp the past summer.
The boy and Ritter had struck up a friendship that continued after camp ended. They had spent several weekends together, including Thanksgiving break, at Ritter's home in the Poconos.
Posing as her son, the mother sent a text message in response, asking Ritter what he enjoyed most about their weekend together and what he would be thinking about in bed. Ritter allegedly responded with an explicit reference to the intimacy he and the boy had shared.
Ritter then asked if the boy had erased earlier text messages he had sent. Suspecting the boy hadn't done so, or that someone else had the phone, Ritter changed the subject. His final text message said, ''Thanks for throwing football and baseball I don't get the chance to do it. It was the best part this weekend…''
But it was too late. Ritter was caught, police say.
The boy's mother contacted state police the next day, which led to an investigation and sexual assault charges against Ritter, a popular East Hills Middle School teacher who founded a highly touted and award-winning environmental program called Monagacci for seventh-graders.
Ritter, 44, of Palmyra Township, Pike County, was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, indecent assault, attempt to commit unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility.
The Boy Scouts permanently barred Ritter, who had been with the Scouts as a member or volunteer for most of his life. And the Bethlehem Area School District suspended Ritter from East Hills, where he started the Monagacci program in 1994.
According to the arrest affidavit:
A day after reading the text messages, the boy's mother on Dec. 1 contacted state police at the Bethlehem barracks about her son's alleged sexual encounter with Ritter, whom he met at last year's Trexler Scout Reservation summer camp in Monroe County's West End.
The mother told police she had confronted Ritter, who allegedly admitted a sexual liaison had occurred and said he had been upset about it ever since and was contemplating suicide. Ritter said he wanted to explain to her son that what he did was wrong.
Police interviewed the boy, who said Ritter performed a sex act on him during his Thanksgiving visit to his cabin on Nov. 29 and Ritter exposed himself to him. Later that night, the boy said, he woke up to find Ritter fondling him. The boy also said Ritter showed him a pornographic video.
During a Jan. 22 interview with troopers, Ritter admitted the boy spent weekends at his home at least twice, that they slept in the same bed and that he sent the boy inappropriate text messages.
Two weeks ago, state police at Bethlehem transferred the investigation to troopers at the Blooming Grove barracks in Pike County, because the alleged crimes occurred in their jurisdiction.http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5ritter.6791946feb21,0,1871783.story