By JUDY RATTNER
In the Crime Watch on page 4, under "Arrests," was a paragraph about one Thomas J. Foley, 54, of Windsor Avenue, who was picked up by police on June 7 at 2:15 in the afternoon, and charged with failing to register as a sex offender.
It just so happens that there is at least one other Thomas Foley in town. He also lives on a street that begins with a "W," (Westminster Road) and he has the same middle initial, J, for Joseph. That Thomas J. Foley, as it happens, will be 54 in October.
Maybe the Foleys of Westminster Road weren't initially aware of the item in that Crime Watch, but apparently their friends and neighbors were, and in very short order they were clued in. Tom Foley said his daughters, Lauren, 21, entering her senior year at Hamilton College, and Megan, 19, a junior at Colgate University, both of whom had just arrived home for the summer, received calls from friends saying they had seen their father's name in the paper.
The only problem is that it wasn't their father.
"I want the record corrected," said Tom Foley of Westminster Road, when he called the Herald to explain. "The fact that the person's name was published is a plus, because we have to know about the situation. I do want his name out there. Unfortunately, it happens to be my name also. I just want to make it clear that it's not me."
Tom said he owns his own fashion and IT staffing business in the city, Gromwell LLC, and also has deep roots in the Rockville Centre community. He's long been active in youth sports, in the Catholic Youth Organization and the Boys' Basketball League, as well as in the Rockville Centre Soccer Club, organizing its annual golf outing fund-raiser for several years, and helping to form the club's Adapted Soccer program for special-needs children. At the 25th annual Long Island Junior Soccer League convention on March 9, Foley was recognized for his many good deeds, receiving the Volunteer of the Year award
His wife Rose said she, too, wanted to straighten out the case of the two Foleys. She explained that she has been active in the PTA at two different schools, as PTA president at Covert Elementary School for two years and as PTA president of South Side High School, also for two years. And with her daughters in college, and her son, Thomas Joseph Foley Jr., just participating in the Middle School Moving Up Ceremony and planning to attend the prestigious Regis preparatory high school in Manhattan next year, Rose will be leaving the Rockville Centre School District. She wants to go out on a high note. At a recent Council of PTAs meeting, she was also recognized for her many good deeds, receiving a Distinguished Volunteer Award.
"It's a hard situation, it's an awkward situation," said her husband. "People don't realize and they have to be aware of this. It's my name, it sounds like my street and we're about the same age. There are two individuals in this town, and one of them you have to be aware of. Where does it go from here? I just want to put the kibosh on all of this now. Hopefully this will clear the case of the name association."
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