I thought they said he was 16. Maybe it was the benign emails that went to the 16 year old.
Yeah, the e-mails were for the 16-year-old, so no crime there (although they still were a little creepy). Even if the IM guy wasn't 18, it was not a sure thing that the content was illegal, but if in fact the kid's legal age, then there is no story other than Foley's own sad world.