NYC child services investigating Anthony Weiner
Child services launch investigation after new photos surface
Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner told FoxNews.com Wednesday he knows he has a problem after his never-ending sexting scandal reached a new low with revelations he sent X-rated messages to a 15-year-old girl.
Weiner’s alleged sexting with the then-high school sophomore, who was not identified, began in January and lasted several months. Weiner’s wife, top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, announced in August that she was separating from Weiner after a different sexting scandal hit the news.
"I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent," Weiner told FoxNews.com.
Weiner said, however, that he had “likely been the subject of a hoax."
"I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position," he said. "I am sorry."
But screenshots provided by the girl clearly show Weiner’s Twitter handle responding to direct messages. At one point she notes she goes to high school and Weiner asks “Where do you go to school?” Messages on the Kik app – where Weiner allegedly used the alias “T Dog” – and on Facebook show Weiner’s face and often picture the former congressman shirtless.
Weiner could potentially face legal trouble due to the interactions.
New York law makes it a crime to persuade someone younger than 17 to create sexual or nude images. It's also criminal to disseminate indecent material to a minor. If the unidentified girl is from out of state, the lewd messages could become a federal issue.
"She's underage, so she's under the age of consent," said Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl, who added both the pictures and texts sent by Weiner could potentially prove criminal.
"Both are sexually promiscuous," she said. "He's sending them for sexual satisfaction. There's really no other way to take the texts other than for his sexual gratification. It's certainly encouraging indecency of a minor over the Internet."
Police investigated Weiner in 2011 after it emerged he was messaging a high school junior in Delaware, FoxNews.com reported. A Weiner spokesperson said the interactions with the 17-year-old girl "were neither explicit nor indecent." Anyone under the age of 18 in Delaware is considered a minor, however, Weiner was not charged with a crime at the time.
In one picture allegedly sent to the 15-year-old girl by Weiner, he's shown sitting outside with his shirt pulled up and his 4-year-old son sleeping on his stomach. The picture was eerily similar to a sext published by The New York Post in August showing the boy lying in bed with a scantily-clad Weiner.
After the August picture came out, the Administration for Children's Services launched a probe of Weiner, The Post reported.
Weiner's most-recent alleged sexting partner described some of their conversations when the chats took place on Skype.
"He would tell me that he was very lonely and that it had been a year since he and his wife had sex, and that she really didn’t pay him any attention,” the girl told The Daily Mail. “We would talk, just chatting for about 30 minutes and it would lead to more sexual things…asking me to undress…he’d comment on my body. He asked me about masturbation, and that kind of thing.”
Weiner has been the subject of numerous sex scandals since it emerged in May 2011 that he sent explicit photos of himself to a woman on Twitter. He resigned from Congress that June. In 2013, Weiner entered the New York City mayoral race. But his candidacy ended when his sexts with a 22-year-old woman were discovered. Weiner used the alias “Carlos Danger” in those messages. Abedin announced the couple’s separation in August when the New York Post published a sext showing Weiner lying in his bed with his son.
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