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  Abuse Network Chief to Foley: Name Your Attacker

By Larry Lebowitz
Miami Herald [Florida]
October 4, 2006

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/15680257.htm

The director of a national network of sexual abuse victims called on disgraced former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Palm Beach County to identify his alleged perpetrator to local law enforcement.

"He should contact law enforcement regardless of how long ago the crime took place. Like any victim, there's a civic and moral duty to do this, especially for someone who is a lawmaker. He's a public official," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Attorney David Roth, speaking on Foley's behalf at a West Palm Beach news conference Tuesday, said the former congressman was molested between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman.

Roth said the 52-year-old Foley, now in seclusion for treatment for alcoholism, kept the molestation secret for more than 30 years because of "shame."

Roth declined to identify the clergyman or the church.

That wasn't good enough for SNAP's Clohessy.

"Is the [alleged] perpetrator alive? If we don't know that at this point, it's even more important to report this. Foley is 52, and if these events happened when he was a teenager, there is a distinct possibility -- maybe even a certainty -- this person is still alive."

Foley was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He 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.

Clohessy said SNAP usually encourages victims to call police, a support group or therapist, and then, as a last resort, the local diocese where the abuse took place. "He [Foley] should let them know as well," he said.

Former Catholic priest Bill Brooks, who knew Foley at the time and was his high school guidance counselor, told The Palm Beach Post that he never saw signs of abuse.

Brooks, now a Palm Beach town councilman, told the newspaper it was "terribly irresponsible" not to name the clergyman.

 
 

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