|
Note: This is a Text only archive. Go directly to the real forum.
Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case - Click HERE to go to the original thread with graphics
banner
| Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case - Click HERE to go to the original thread with graphics |
| ilovesavanna |
Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case
LOS ANGELES — In a highly unusual use of a federal law generally employed in computer fraud cases, a federal grand jury here on Thursday indicted a Missouri woman accused of using a phony online identity to trick and taunt a 13-year-old girl, who committed suicide in response to the cyberbaiting.
Megan Meier, feeling rejected, committed suicide in 2006.
The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Ms. Drew lives in O’Fallon, Mo., where, according to the indictment, she created a MySpace account under the name Josh Evans in 2006. Prosecutors said she used the social networking account to contact a young girl named in the indictment as M.T.M. with sexually charged messages from “Josh.” The girl, who has been identified by her mother as Megan Meier, was a former friend of Ms. Drew’s daughter.
After a few weeks of chatting, “Josh Evans” began to send Megan nasty messages, via the MySpace account, ending with one that suggested “the world would be a better place” without her. Megan, believing she had been rejected by “Josh,” committed suicide in her home.
Missouri law enforcement officials said they had not found enough evidence to bring charges in the case, and Ms. Drew, who was 48 when Megan died, has repeatedly denied creating the account.
But because MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., and its server is here, federal prosecutors decided to wield a federal statute that is generally used to prosecute fraud that occurs across state lines.
The statute applies in the case, the indictment says, because by violating the user agreement of MySpace, which prohibits phony accounts, Ms. Drew was seeking information “to further a tortuous act, namely, intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
“To my knowledge it is the first case of its kind in the nation,” said Thomas P. O’Brien a United States attorney in California. “But when an adult violates terms on a MySpace account to gain information that creates this type of reaction, it caused this office to take a really hard look.”
Calls to Megan’s parents, Tina and Ron Meier, were not returned Thursday. Mr. Meier told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “It’s a good day. It’s an awesome feeling.”
Ms. Drew’s lawyer, H. Dean Steward, said: “I am deeply disappointed. We thought when the St. Louis prosecutors took a look at the case and decided not to bring charges that was the end of it. I don’t think the statute they used fits the facts in the indictments.”
Ms. Drew is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles in June.
Experts were skeptical that the charges would withstand close legal scrutiny.
“It is an extremely aggressive indictment,” said Rebecca Lonergan, a law professor at the University of Southern California and a former federal prosecutor. “I have never in 18 years as a prosecutor seen the statute used that way. Cybercrimes is a relatively new area, but I am not sure this statute technically covers the essence of the harm.”
Officials at MySpace said in a written statement, “MySpace does not tolerate cyberbullying and is cooperating fully with the U.S. attorney in this matter.”
Various state and local governments have passed or introduced laws that prohibit cyberbullying, often through requirements that school districts have cyberbullying policies.
“I have concerns about the term ‘cyberbullying’ being applied to this situation,” said Nancy Willard, executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. “Cyberbullying usually occurs between peers. It is not this kind of action.”
Ms. Willard, who is also a former lawyer, said she also had doubts about the prosecutor’s tactics. “I, like everyone else, would like to see Lori Drew see her comeuppance,” she said, “but I have some concerns. I don’t think the statute was written to apply to this case.” |
|
|
| ilovesavanna |
 |
|
|
| JustRob |
| Good... An adult should know better... |
|
|
| HSFansince1980s |
| That is so fucked up - "intentional infliction of emotional distress.” - to do that to a 13-yr.-old kid. :mad: :( |
|
|
| ilovesavanna |
Quote: Originally posted by JustRob
Good... An adult should know better... |
:yesshake: |
|
|
| MrFlubbins |
| Why would somebody do such a thing? Sad. |
|
|
| HSFansince1980s |
Quote: Originally posted by MrFlubbins
Why would somebody do such a thing? Sad. |
She probably thought she was doing it for her daughter. So fucked up. |
|
|
| Johnny Depp |
| YOU GO TO JAIL FOR TROLLING NOW :rolleyes: |
|
|
| sonny chiba |
| this was the best news i read this morning |
|
|
| copter |
| This is very very scary... It seems like every day moar and moar of our basic freedoms go away... Pretty soon the mults on SFN are gonna be sent to Federal pound me in the ass penitentry... :jj: |
|
|
| ilovesavanna |
Quote: Originally posted by sonny chiba
this was the best news i read this morning |
i agree!! |
|
|
| NakedCritic |
| They should hang her cunt ass. |
|
|
| HSFansince1980s |
Quote: Originally posted by NakedCritic
They should hang her cunt ass. |
OR they could give the girl's family a little bit of alone time with her. |
|
|
| IVARR |
Quote: Originally posted by NakedCritic
They should hang her cunt ass. |
i'll tie the noose |
|
|
| BellaStrega |
Quote: Originally posted by MrFlubbins
Why would somebody do such a thing? Sad. |
I'd slit that fucking bitch's throat
no one betta mess with my kid (if I had one) |
|
|
| okra winfrey |
| The fucken crow needs to get a life. |
|
|
| ilovesavanna |
Quote: Originally posted by okra winfrey
The fucken crow needs to get a life. |
it always amazes me when parents act worse than their children |
|
|
| Johnny Depp |
| If somebody is unstable enough to kill themselves because some internet troll told them too, they deserve to die as far as Im concerned |
|
|
| cpjordan |
Hope that asswipe abuser gets some jailhouse justice...
Now you see why Gary and Job Hein crack down on the social networking IM shit? |
|
|
| Ralph'sCunt |
Quote: Originally posted by Johnny Depp
If somebody is unstable enough to kill themselves because some internet troll told them too, they deserve to die as far as Im concerned |
Truth.
Look at these alleged Stern fans getting all indignant and totalitarian. :rolleyes: |
|
|
| Casual |
| We did a prank like this before the days of myspace. Wrote this guy a letter from a girl he liked saying she wanted him. He believed it for a while but we eventually let him know that we wrote it. We only did it cuz he was being all full of himself. The funniest part was we had our friends mom's bf drive us to school after hours to put the letter in his locker lol |
|
|
| funk5stacks |
Quote: Originally posted by Johnny Depp
If somebody is unstable enough to kill themselves because some internet troll told them too, they deserve to die as far as Im concerned |
:ps:
and her parents are the ones who should go to jail.
a nine year old kid committed suicide where i grew up last month. he got in trouble at school so his parents took his xbox 360 away and he fucking offed himself in his bedroom. :notgood: |
|
|
|
|
|
