FBI Yet to Find Evidence of Foley-Page Sexual Contact

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/fbi_yet_to_find.html

FBI Yet to Find Evidence of Foley-Page Sexual Contact

After interviewing some 40 former congressional pages, FBI agents have yet to turn up any evidence of direct sexual contact between underage pages and former Congressman Mark Foley.

Instead, according to law enforcement officials and several former pages, a pattern is emerging of seduction by Foley that began when the boys were 16 and 17. In cases where actual sex followed, it was not until the boys were at the legal age of 18.

"He spotted me when I was a page and set the hook while I was still in high school," one former page told ABC News. "He didn't reel me in until he showed up at my college campus on a congressional visit. We had sex," said the page, who has been interviewed by the FBI.

"As someone who wrote many of the laws, he presumably knew exactly what he could get away with," said one law enforcement official.

As the former co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, he helped enact laws that toughened penalties on Internet predators and resulted in more FBI agents assigned to Internet sex crimes.

[MrModerate]

1. This is waaaay creepier than previously portrayed . . . n/t

[idgiehkt]

22. that's what I was thinking. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. It's still abuse of power

and Foley is a stalker.

[hippiechick]

3. Doesn't matter - for once the slime label sticks to a GOP'er ...

... after how many innuendoes and insults and labels they attached to Dems over the years but never came out and apologized or clarified when there was no proof ...

The damage is done. They finally got some of their own medicine back. That's all that matters (to me) at this point.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

4. This is one of the things that has been bothering me about this

story. Is from most of the accounts I have read it seemed he was making contact with these pages while they were underage but wasn't actually having sex with them until they were legal. It's still pretty smarmy but I wounder what kind of legal issues this throws up.

[JoFerret]

20. laws on harassment etc

are still evolving but it is the impact, not the intention, that is used in evidence

[SpiralHawk]

5. Check Foley's closet for a little blue dress

That always works. And we know the republicons love to put their sanctimonious noses into everyone's cbedrooms and closets, because they are SO HOLY AND MORAL. Bwaaaa ha ha ha

[Benhurst]

7. It's not there.

Foley has loaned it to Speaker Hastert.

[54anickel]

6. It's been the GOP way, doesn't matter how sleezy and unethical it

might be, as long as it's "legal". That's been the MO of this mal-admin, it's the accepted practice in corporate boardrooms. Hell, once the legal department finds something that was done illegally, they change the damned law and make it retro-active. :grr:

[CoffeeCat]

8. It shouldn't matter what is "legal"!

For Pete's sake...this is a middle-aged Congressmen. He trolls for teenage sex
while these kids are under the age of consent. He reels in the ones who are
the weakest and the easiest to abuse. Foley may have waited until they hit
the magic number--18--and that fact alone demonstrates just how devious and sick
he is.

He used his position of power to gain sex from teenage boys, while he was
the House Chairperson to the Center For Missing and Exploited Children--and
many Congressional members knew about it and DID NOTHING.

The enablers are just as responsible as Foley. They stood by and DID NOTHING
while Foley simultaneously chaired a prestigious anti-abuse committee, and
treated the page program like his personal stud farm.

[plcdude]

9. Just give it time

be patient there is more to come no pun intended.

[soothsayer]

10. when it turns out you've been IMing a 30 y.o. fbi agent instead of

a 14 y.o. girl, you get arrested for showing up to see 'her' even tho she doesn't exist! So why does Foley need to have sexual contact with the pages in order for his masturbatory IMs to get him in hot water?

[aquart]

12. Oh, GOOD point.

Thank you for reminding me of that.

[aquart]

11. Yep, he romanced them till they were legal. What a guy.

Does not, however, make him less of a predator.

[The Stranger]

13. SOLICITATION does not require actual sexual contact.

[karlrschneider]

14. No but it does require a proposed monetary transaction.

...

[The Stranger]

15. Oh damn it all to Hell.

You are exactly right. Sure hope he does not escape because of it.

[karlrschneider]

16. So do I...and thanks for understanding I wasn't defending Foley,

defending the law. ;-)

[progressivebydesign]

18. how many have been arrested for just agreeing to meet a minor?

I find all sexual predators disgusting and not worthy of defense. Just in case anyone thinks my comment is supporting men who prey on young people on the internet. My point is that people are being arrested daily, for simply showing up to meet what they thought was a teen they met over the internet (who was instead a cop). Foley has to have broken some laws here folks...

[slackmaster]

17. Foley is one slippery dick

Looks like he's managed to stay one step away from the brink, so far.

[Eugene]

19. They probably won't. Foley is an organized, methodical predator.

Foley skated just within the boundaries of the law. The only time
he slipped is when he got drunk and tried to enter the pages' dorm.
If they can't catch him in another lapse, he will probably get away
with it this time. He'll be back.

[truthisfreedom]

21. this will INFURIATE the base. they can't nail the guy? oooh, the fundies

want punishment, and they may not get it!