Ex-youth minister sentenced for misconduct

James Ritter used manipulation to groom young girls at a Lutheran church, deceive their parents and fool church leaders.

But the former youth minister didn’t dupe a Spokane County judge on Monday with his words of remorse and acknowledgement of deplorable acts as he pleaded for community-based sex-offender treatment rather than prison.

“I’m not convinced your performance here was not another manipulation,” Spokane County Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly said.

Ritter was sentenced to 15 years on six counts of first-degree sexual misconduct. The charges stem from at least six times he met and had sex with a 16-year-old girl after youth group.

Ritter was also sentenced on one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor involving one of his students at Spokane Lutheran School. In those instances, the 34-year-old talked suggestively with a 14-year-old girl and watched through a Web cam as she exposed herself at his request.

Ritter was not an ordained minister but worked full time as director of Christian education at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 7307 N. Nevada St. He was fired a week before he turned himself in on Dec. 22, 2005.

Ritter was convicted in July.

“You have damaged your church, your family and your community,” Rielly said Monday. “You have damaged just about everybody in this courtroom.”

The two young victims were among those who crowded into the courtroom Monday to give statements prior to sentencing.

“He’d ask me questions about hypothetical situations. … He’d ask if he could kiss me,” one victim, now 18, said. “I didn’t know what to say, nor did I understand why” he was asking.

“If I didn’t have sex with him, he’d ignore me,” she said, and added, “I feel lost and broken. Some days I don’t even feel like getting out of bed. I carry a burden in my heart.”

But, she said, “today is the last day I’ll have to face him.”

The younger victim, now 17, has moved to Texas with her family. She has returned to Spokane twice for Ritter’s trial and sentencing.

“Four years ago, I met Mr. Ritter,” she said. “Now I wish I never had.”

According to testimony, Ritter spent more than a year grooming the young teen and driving a wedge between her and her family.

“My relationship with Mr. Ritter felt so wrong, but it fed my desire to be valued,” the 17-year-old said.

The young girl’s mother knew something was wrong and confronted church officials in 2004 after the girl’s brother intercepted Ritter’s suggestive phone call in 2004.

The call was a game of 20 questions – favorite things about the female body – with hers as the focus.

Church officials spoke with Ritter and asked him to talk to a counselor, which he did. But that counselor told him there was nothing wrong with him, officials said Monday.

The 17-year-old said, “When I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t feel like a person to be valued.”

Ritter’s parents and his wife, Shannon, sat through the sentencing and listened to the statements. His mother crumpled over in tears several times as she listened to what others were saying about her son.

His wife, who has stuck by him, testified in court for the first time. They have three children together.

“You’ve heard the horrible, disgusting crimes my husband has committed,” said Shannon Ritter, adding that she had forgiven him and recognized his need for help.

“We’ve committed to the life changes that will prevent further devastation,” she said, pleading for the judge to sentence her husband to treatment.

“I need his love and support.”

James Ritter made the last statement before he learned his sentence.

“I’m ashamed of the harm that I’ve done,” he said. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble I caused. I wish I was a better person.”