"He's comfortable in that he didn't do anything wrong," said attorney Emmett Madden, a former member of the Jenkintown Borough Council. "Not only did he not serve kids, he had no reason to believe anyone at the party was serving kids. There's no basis for them to say there was a cover-up."
Jenkintown police found the student, with some friends, stumbling along the streets near Foley's home - about a mile west of the Foxcroft Country Club - during the early morning of April 16, Chief Albert J. DiValentino said.
When questioned as to where they had been, the student's friends pointed to the mayor's house, and told officers they had attended a party there hosted by Foley's daughter that night.
The get-together - attended by about 30 other Jenkintown High School teens - was held in honor of a group of French exchange students who were about to return to their home country.
Officers rushed the young man to Abington Memorial Hospital where he received treatment for alcohol poisoning. He was released shortly thereafter and returned to France by the following Monday, DiValentino said.
The chief declined to release an incident report from that night citing the ongoing investigation.
"As soon as this matter was brought to our attention, I recognized a conflict of interest for my department and immediately referred it to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office," the chief said Monday in a written statement
While it is unusual for county detectives - typically assigned to larger investigations - to take up a case of alleged underage drinking, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman described the move as appropriate given the mayor's supervisory authority over the borough's police.
Detectives would not detail Monday how Foley is suspected of having tried to cover up the incident but confirmed those allegations were part of their investigation.
But Madden characterized the whole situation as ridiculous. His client has cooperated fully since the District Attorney's Office became involved, he said.
Madden maintained that both the mayor and his wife were home at the time of the party and kept a vigilant eye on the teens gathered in their backyard that night. Had they noticed any drinking going on, they would have put a stop to it immediately, he said.
"The unfortunate reality is you get a bunch of teenagers together and some are going to break the rules," Madden said. "Had they known anything, Mr. Foley and his wife would have done what any sensible parents would do: Call their parents and get them in trouble."
Foley, 49, an Internet marketing manager for a Philadelphia life-insurance company, was first elected mayor of Jenkintown in 2009.
Contact staff writer Jeremy Roebuck at 267-564-5218 or at jroebuck@phillynews.com.
