Former Lutheran youth leader booked into jail on sex charges

The former youth minister at Holy Cross Lutheran Church was booked into jail Thursday on sexual misconduct and exploitation charges involving teenage girls attending his church youth group.

James D. Ritter, 31, turned himself in to Spokane police about 3:15 p.m. after being advised that charges had been filed against him, said Sgt. Brad Arleth.

Ritter faces six counts of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and one count each of sexual exploitation of a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

The charges include aggravating factors, meaning Ritter could be given additional prison time if convicted because he was in a position of trust and because of the multiple offenses, Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald said.

“I think the abuse of trust in this case … as his role as a youth pastor is really quite tragic, that someone would take advantage of a situation like that and of these girls in this way,” Arleth said. “That just kind of goes to show that parents need to be on top of things, too, as far as controlling computer use.

“There are people out there, like the suspect, who will go to any and all lengths using the computer to befriend people and draw conversations that are turned into something that shouldn’t be.”

Ritter, who was not an ordained minister but worked full time as the church’s director of Christian education, was fired by a unanimous vote of church elders last week.

On Nov. 22, church officials placed Ritter on paid administrative leave after the allegations surfaced.

“The church staff was completely cooperative with both the Sheriff’s Office and Police Department investigators,” Arleth said.

“I think they did the right thing in cooperating with us and bringing some of this information forward.”

The mother of one of the girls confronted church officials in November and filed a report with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office after she learned of online conversations her daughter was having with Ritter.

Sheriff’s Detective John Grandinetti said the family agreed to turn over its computer, which contained records of many of the online conversations between Ritter and the girl.

Based on those transcripts, Grandinetti obtained a search warrant Dec. 8 and seized Ritter’s computer at his home.

While searching Ritter’s computer, a forensics expert and Grandinetti found explicit Internet chat transcripts and pornographic Web camera images involving the first teenage girl and another older teenage girl.

The older girl later filed a police report with Spokane police.

According to a Dec. 19 search warrant affidavit, the older girl told detectives she met Ritter on a youth group vacation to Florida in the summer of 2004 and felt attracted to him. Last summer they began communicating nightly through e-mail and instant messaging, the warrant said.

The conversations usually started generically, but Ritter always steered the conversation toward sex, Grandinetti wrote in court records.

The girl “reported that Ritter asked (her) if she liked to be handcuffed, and he sent her a Web cam photo of a girl handcuffed, having sexual intercourse,” Grandinetti wrote.

In the fall, the girl met Ritter at Friendship Park after youth group and, according to documents, they had sexual intercourse for the first time.

They agreed to get together every Tuesday after the youth gatherings to have sex in various locations, Grandinetti wrote.

Ritter declined a request Thursday evening for a jailhouse interview. Jail officials were not sure whether Ritter was booked in time to appear today for a first appearance hearing.