[JURIST] The FBI Tuesday continued an investigation into possible sex crimes by Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) [WP profile] that may lead to charges under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 [HR 4472 materials; JURIST report], a bill Foley co-sponsored. Under the law, persons found to be "sex offenders" are required to register their name, social security number, address, and other information with the state in which they reside. The law also provides that the US Attorney General [official website] must maintain a National Sex Offender Registry [official website], a cooperative between state and federal government to make sex offender registration public information.

Foley resigned [Reuters report] on Friday after ABC News reported that he had sent congressional pages [CRS program backgrounder, PDF; House page program backgrounder, PDF] inappropriate text messages, some sexually explicit in nature. US House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) [official website] sent a letter [text] to the Justice Department Sunday, calling for an investigation [JURIST report] into the scandal. The Miami Herald has more.