Timothy Ritchie is a federal interrogator who appeared in the Season Eleven episode of Criminal Minds, "The Storm".
Background[]
Little is known about Ritchie's early life. He became an interrogator for the U.S. Department of Justice at some point in his life. In 2016, he and the Justice Department were attracted to the attention of SSA Aaron Hotchner by Peter Lewis, a serial killer by proxy who was apprehended by the BAU during the previous year. Peter recounted his experience with Hotch after inducing a psychotic break in him. He claimed seeing him laugh after hallucinating the deaths of his team, which alarmed him. As a result, the Department of Justice began running tabs on Hotch. Eventually, weeks later, they received word of a 911 call purportedly sent by Hotch, declaring, "Today will change everything."
The Storm[]
After Hotch is arrested under the suspicion of conspiracy because of the 911 call, he is brought to the interrogation room, where he meets Ritchie. Hotch demands to see his son, but Ritchie replies that he is with JJ. Ritchie then asks why Hotch didn't immediately ask why he was brought to the Justice Department. Hotch replies that it is either a mistake or he is being framed. Ritchie then has Hotch listen to a recording of the 911 call. When Hotch replies that he didn't send the call, Ritchie tells him that the voice recognition matched. Then, he asks him if he has a storage unit container in West Virginia; Hotch replies that he and his wife cleared it out, and it had been that way for years. Ritchie then tells him about his possession of a van; and his recent purchases of nitromethane, diesel fuel, and blasting caps. Hotch replies that he didn't make the purchases. When Ritchie shows him a paper with copies of the purchase receipts, Hotch deduces that the Justice Department had been watching him.
Hotch demands to know who gave the Justice Department the permission to put him under surveillance. Ritchie initially refuses to answer until Hotch threatens to get a lawyer. He tells him that the Justice Department got a convincing tip from a source. When Hotch believes it was Antonia Slade, who he had recently investigated, Ritchie shows him a video recording of Peter testifying against Hotch. Afterward, Ritchie explains that the tip got the Justice Department to seriously dig into Hotch after they realized his wife was murdered as a result of his job. He then tells Hotch that after the murder, he began dismissing standard FBI procedure, but Hotch denies doing that. Ritchie reminds Hotch about his participation in faking Prentiss' death during the Ian Doyle investigation; and also his classification of a serial killer's unjustified death, done at the hands of Rossi, as self-defense, even though Hotch previously terminated Elle from service after she killed a serial rapist. Hotch responds that each of those incidents were judgment calls and that he could easily justify them.
Though Ritchie admits that Hotch could be able to justify his judgment calls, he then tells Hotch about one last, completely inexcusable judgment call: his drugging at Peter's hands, and his decision to not include, in his Bureau psychological evaluation, the fact that the powerful drug Peter used easily induced psychotic breaks in other victims. At first, Hotch doesn't answer, but he finally explains that he did not mention the drug's potency because someone from the Justice Department would misinterpret it and someone else would use it to their advantage. However, Ritchie is unconvinced and leaves Hotch alone in the interrogation room. Later, when a group of anarchists attack Virginia Supermax Prison with the intention of breaking out their leader Eric Rawdon, Ritchie returns to the interrogation room and asks Hotch about his connection with Rawdon, believing the two of them to be partners. Hotch denies this and tells Ritchie his realization that the Justice Department plans to keep him in interrogation to later use him as a scapegoat in case they were unable to prevent Rawdon from committing a terrorist attack. He then convinces Ritchie to release him and help the BAU in dismantling the anarchists' plot.