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	State Prosecutors Confirm Name of Priest Sarasota Herald-Tribune [Florida] October 19, 2006 http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/BREAKING03/61019006 Officials at the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office confirmed this afternoon that Anthony Mercieca is the priest U.S. Rep Mark Foley says abused him as a boy. Mercieca's identity was first reported by the Herald-Tribune. The priest, who now lives in Gozo, an island near Italy, told the Herald-Tribune Wednesday that he had an intimate two-year relationship he had with Foley in the late 1960s. Foley's attorneys revealed the name Wednesday evening to Palm Beach prosecutors, but the state attorney's office did not confirm the name until today. Legal experts say there is little chance the priest could be criminally prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed. Mercieca told the Herald-Tribune that he massaged Foley while he was naked as a boy in Lake Worth. He also said he took Foley on many overnight trips and sometimes was naked in the room with him. The two went skinny dipping together several times, Mercieca said. Today he told the Associated Press and other news outlets that he never had sex with Foley. Officials with the Archdiocese of Miami said Wednesday afternoon they still had not been told the name by official sources.
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