From CNN, 11/16/06:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/16/foley.probe/index.html

From CNN, 11/16/06:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/16/foley.probe/index.html
Foley focus of Florida criminal probe

(CNN) --
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has opened a criminal
investigation of former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned in September
after his e-mails with teenage congressional pages came to light, a
spokeswoman said Thursday.
The agency opened a preliminary inquiry into Foley's conduct shortly
after his resignation.
Foley was in Florida Thursday for the funeral of his father.
FDLE spokeswoman Kristen Perezuela said the agency has found "a basis
to open a criminal investigation."
"The e-mails are one thing we're looking into," Perezuela said, adding
the Florida agency was continuing to assist the FBI, which has been
conducting its own Foley probe.
Authorities have been investigating whether Foley might have used
computers in Florida to engage or solicit minors in any illegal
activities.
Foley's attorney, David Roth, has categorically denied that the former
congressman ever engaged in sexual activity with minors.
Foley resigned from Congress September 29 after revelations the
six-term Florida politician had sent sexually explicit Internet
messages to young congressional aides.
He subsequently announced he had been sexually molested as a boy by
Catholic priest, Anthony Mercieca, who is retired and lives on the
Maltese island of Gozo.
Mercieca admitted in U.S. media interviews that he had encounters with
Foley that could be perceived as sexually inappropriate but denied
having sex with him.
The priest worked from the mid-1960s until 2002 in south Florida,
where Foley was an altar boy in the late 1960s.
In late October, House Speaker Dennis Hastert urged ethics
investigators to work quickly to unravel the congressional pages
scandal, testifying before them just after a GOP lawmaker whose
recollections differ from his.
The investigation was reported to be focusing on House leaders who
were allegedly told about inappropriate e-mails sent by Foley to
former pages, when the leaders were told and what was done in
response.
Hastert and some other Republicans suggested revelations about the
messages were timed to hurt the GOP in the midterm elections.
Hastert said he first learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a
former Louisiana page -- and sexually explicit instant messages to
another page -- just a month before the messages became public and he
faced great pressure to step down from his post.
He refused to do so.
At the time the FBI opened an inquiry but said it would not clear if
Foley had broken any laws.
In the wake of the page scandal, other alleged incidents surfaced.
For instance, Foley's former chief of staff Kirk Fordham testified
before the ethics panel that at least three years ago he asked top GOP
aides, including Hastert's chief of staff Scott Palmer, to intervene
to stop Foley's inappropriate behavior.
Palmer denied Fordham's account.
Fordham also testified about an episode several years ago in which
Foley is said to have been drunk and trying to enter the page dorm.
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Quite a group these Republicans, eh?
Harry