Check the initial value that is being used for the iRite editor. It looks like you may be doing some encoding on the value and getting the strange characters as a result. This is my best guess based on what you have here and that the value is also stored in the db this way.
When the message is sent is the body being set to the value of the iRite instance, or are you storing the value in your db first, then recalling it with a recordset to add it into the email body?