Foley: I Was Molested, by Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post, October 4, 2006

Foley: I Was Molested

By Brian E. Crowley
Palm Beach Post
October 4, 2006

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/04/m1a_FOLEY_1004.html

West Palm Beach — Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley says a clergyman molested him when he was a teenager in the 1960s.

Foley made the announcement Tuesday through his attorney, David Roth, who also said Foley "wants you to know that he is a gay man." It was the first time in nearly 30 years of public life that Foley has declared openly that he is gay.

The twin announcements, made outside the West Palm Beach Library, started another jarring chapter in a saga that began Friday when Foley was forced to resign from Congress in disgrace because of sexually explicit instant messages he exchanged with teenage boys who had worked as congressional pages.

Mark Foley was an altar boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (this photo is from the early 1960s, when Foley was about 8). Later, he attended Cardinal Newman High School, which he left in 1971 to attend Lake Worth High School.
Photo by The Palm Beach Post

The alleged molestation of Foley took place between the ages of 13 and 15, said Roth, who did not name the clergyman, the denomination or where the sexual contacts took place.

Roth said Foley wants to release those details but was advised not to do so until he completes treatment for alcoholism and mental illness at an undisclosed substance abuse center.

Raised in a devout Catholic family, Foley was an altar boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth and attended Cardinal Newman High School before transferring to Lake Worth High School.

David Roth, lawyer for former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, leaves a news conference in downtown West Palm Beach Tuesday after alleging that a clergyman molested Foley. Roth said Foley would like to reveal details but has been advised not to.
Photo by The Palm Beach Post

A former Catholic priest who knew Foley at the time and was his high school guidance counselor said he never saw signs of abuse and called it "terribly irresponsible" not to name the clergyman.

"To throw that out there like that, I think it's despicable. If there's somebody out there, name him," said former priest Bill Brooks, now a Palm Beach town councilman, who was Foley's guidance counselor from September 1969 to the spring of 1970 at Cardinal Newman.

Roth said Foley, 52, kept the molestation secret for more than 30 years because of "Shame. Shame."

And he said Foley is not trying to shift the focus from his actions to those of others.

"Mark does not blame the trauma he sustained as a young adolescent for his totally inappropriate e-mails and IMs," Roth said. "He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct."

Most of the priests who were at Cardinal Newman at that time are now dead, said Brooks, who said Foley showed no signs of abuse.

"He was a typical high school freshman," Brooks said. "He had great verbal skills. He didn't particularly like homework."

A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Diocese said it would be inappropriate to comment on a "vague allegation."

"It would be really inappropriate for me to comment on speculation at this point, especially not knowing what these allegations are or who they're being made against," said spokeswoman Alexis Walkenstein. "We don't even know if it involves the Catholic church or diocese."

Since Foley left office Friday, more lurid instant messages sent to other male pages have been discovered. In the latest round, which ABC News reported Tuesday, Foley apparently exchanged messages while in his Capitol Hill office waiting to cast a vote.

The messages are sexually explicit and, at one point, Foley suggested that the teenager come to his Capitol Hill home, where they could drink alcohol together.

Roth said Tuesday that, although Foley takes full responsibility for his Internet conduct with teenage boys, he "never attempted to have sexual contact with a minor."

Foley's alleged childhood sexual abuse could have contributed to his own abusive behavior, according to a psychiatrist.

"There's no question that being sexually abused as a child increases the risk of being a perpetrator," said Dr. Jon Shaw, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Miami.

"Sometimes the sexual victimization, while a horrifying experience, can often lead to sexual arousal at the same time. It's very confusing to the child. They later can identify with the aggressor, and do unto a child what was done unto them. They may pick a child roughly the same age they were when they were victimized. They become both the perpetrator and the victim."

He said he didn't think that being abused by an authority figure, such as a priest or a teacher, increases the tendency to be sexually abusive as an adult.

Not every child who is abused becomes an abuser, and only a small percentage actually do, he said. There are no good studies on cause and effect.

"We don't quite know why, how a child goes from victim to victimizer, but clearly in many instances there is a connection."

ABC reported Tuesday that it has received "52 separate instant message exchanges which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18."

MAF are the initials of Foley's full name, Mark Adam Foley, and 1954 is the year he was born.

While waiting to vote at 7 p.m. in April 2003, Foley engaged "in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page," according to ABC.

ABC did not provide the more lurid aspects of the exchange. It simply said, "Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms."

Then the exchange continues:

Maf54: ok..i better go vote . . . did you know you would have this effect on me

Teen: lol I guessed

Teen: ya go vote . . . I don't want to keep you from doing our job

Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight

Teen: :-*

Teen:

Later, Foley invited the teen to come to his Washington home where they would drink in private.

Maf54: your not old enough to drink

Teen: shhh . . .

Maf54: ok

Teen: that's not what my ID says

Teen: lol

Maf54: ok

Teen: I probably shouldn't be telling you that huh

Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we don't get busted.

Roth said Tuesday that he had not seen this particular Internet exchange.

"I have absolutely no reason to believe that Mark Foley has ever had teenage boys at his house to have alcohol," Roth said.

He also continued to contend that Foley was a "secret drinker" but said that, "based on all the information that I have, Mark Foley was never under the influence of alcohol while he was a public servant."

Although the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement have begun preliminary investigations, Roth said no one from law enforcement has asked for any computer files or computers.

Roth said none of Foley's e-mails, instant messages or other computer files has been destroyed.

Staff writers Frank Cerabino, Kevin Deutsch and Carolyn Susman contributed to this story.