'Healing' Foley Plans to Name Alleged Molester Priest

Oct. 17, 2006 — -- Disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla., will in the coming days tell the Archdiocese of Miami the identity of the priest who he claims molested him as a young teen, his civil attorney said today.

Gerald Richman, a civil attorney and politically active Democrat in Palm Beach County, told ABC News that the priest is still alive, though he didn't yet know his name or location, and wasn't sure whether the alleged perpetrator still had contact with children or teenagers.

Foley, 52, is "going through a difficult healing process," said Richman, who spoke with Foley today by telephone. Foley is currently in a rehabilitation clinic reportedly dealing with alcoholism.

"When I spoke with him he had a therapist with him," Richman said. The two didn't discuss the specifics of the alleged molestation but rather focused on "how to handle the disclosure issue," he said.

"He has already publicly stated through (his criminal attorney) David Roth that he's not doing this any way to excuse his behavior," Richman said. "He accepts full responsibility for his behavior."

Richman said that he discussed with Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer possible criminal repercussions against the priest but was told it was unlikely much could be done because during the alleged abuse -- some time between 1967 and 1969 -- boys were not then covered by the Florida felony law against molesting children.

"The problem with regard to Florida legislation at that time is that, believe it or not, the law did not protect young males, only young females," Richman said. "This has given the state attorney's office problems in the past."

In 1998, after Palm Beach County Bishop J. Keith Symons admitted sexually molesting five boys decades before, the state attorney's office complained its hands were tied because until 1972 the language of the specific Florida law made rape a capital offense, but applied only to female victims.

After speaking to Foley by telephone today, Richman said he called J. Patrick Fitzgerald --