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Foley checks into rehab
02/10/2006 23:10 - (SA)
Washington - A former Republican lawmaker facing possible criminal charges for the sexually-suggestive e-mails he sent to teenage congressional aides has checked into an alcohol treatment facility, his attorney told US media on Monday.
Mark Foley, who abruptly resigned his seat in the house of representatives on Friday after his sexually explicit e-mail and instant messaging exchanges with a 16-year-old male former congressional page became public, said via a fax sent by his attorney to ABC television that he had entered an alcohol treatment facility and was sorry for the harm he had caused, the network reported.
The statement came as the FBI began "conducting an assessment to determine if there has been any violation of federal law," spokesperson Stephen Kodak told AFP late on Sunday.
Cracked down on child porn sites
The probe announcement followed a call by Dennis Hastert, the powerful speaker of the house of representatives, to get the department of justice - in charge of the FBI - involved in the case.
Foley, a six-term lawmaker known as a tireless advocate of protecting children from sexual predators, had been favored to win re-election against his Democratic challenger Tim Mahoney in the November 7 elections.
He co-chaired the house caucus on missing and exploited children and recently introduced legislation to crack down on internet child pornography sites.
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