Former page shares his Foley instant messages

WASHINGTON - Tyson Vivyan was a congressional page from 1996 to 1997. Now 26, he tells NBC News that he knew Fla. Rep. Mark Foley somewhat during his brief Washington stay, but not well. It wasn't until after he finished the congressional program and returned home to Tennessee, he says, that Foley began reaching out to him. Vivyan says that he began receiving instant messages in 1997 from someone with the moniker "maf54," and that the messages were almost immediately sexual in nature.

Vivyan says he soon deduced that the mystery writer was Foley, and got the congressman to concede this online. Vivyan says he was 17 at the time, and not at all interested in a sexual relationship with the much older Foley. He says that every time he tried to turn the conversation away from sex that Foley would go back to the topic, asking him to discuss what he was wearing, and which sexual acts he enjoyed.

"I was completely shocked that someone of his position would conduct himself that way with someone my age," Vivyan says.

He never reported Foley to the authorities or told anyone, Vivyan says, because he didn't think anyone would believe him. Vivyan says he did not save any of those early instant messages.

Vivyan continued communicating with Foley by instant message for the next eight years. He says he didn't want to ruin his connection to a powerful Washington personality, and thus never cut off the correspondence. Vivyan says he never had any sexual contact with the Republican congressman, and is speaking out now to make the public aware that this scandal is about a lawmaker's inappropriate behavior, and shouldn't reflect poorly on the page program.

NBC News has confirmed that FBI special agents in Atlanta interviewed Vivyan Tuesday morning at his home. He provided the FBI with the following instant message exchange, in which Foley allegedly says he's looking for a boyfriend. The messages, sexual in nature, are from 2004 and 2005, when Vivyan was 24 years old. Foley's lawyer did not return a call to NBC seeking comment on the messages and Vivyan's claims.

While NBC News has verified much of Vivyan's story, NBC cannot independently confirm that the online messages were sent by Foley.

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