Mother Whose Online Harassment of Teen Lead to Teen’s Suicide May be Charged with Fraud 1/10/2008 - 1,766 views, 4 Comments
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Lori Drew, the woman who was the adult involved in the cyber harassment of Missouri teen Megan Meier, which ultimately led to Megan hanging herself in November, is the subject of a Grand Jury investigation which has been convened to determine whether Lori Drew can be charged with fraud for her fraudulant use of MySpace. Megan Meier took her own life after being harassed and told that the world would be better off without her by “Josh”, a boy she believed she had befriended on MySpace. Josh and his MySpace account, however, turned out to be the creation of Lori Drew, her daughter, and a teenaged employee. You may recall that we explained back in November, when Megan Meier killed herself after the online harassment by Lori Drew, that Drew’s actions did not actually violate any criminal law on the books at the time. (The state of Missouri, where these sad events took place, is now putting together legislation which would criminalize an adult using online technology to harass a child.) Drew freely admits that she monitored the MySpace account, although now that she has a lawyer and a fraud investigation, she denies creating the account or being the one to harass Megan. The act of creating the account under false pretenses - an adult woman creating an account purporting to belong to a teenaged boy - would undoubtedly be the fact on which a fraud charge would turn. However, back in November when we first reported the story, Lori Drew told police that she had created the MySpace profile “because she wanted to gain Megan’s confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online,” and she told police that “she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.” Said Megan’s bereaved mother, when she learned of the Grand Jury investigation, “If MySpace is considered the victim, fine. I don’t care at this point. We’ve been begging for someone - anyone - to pick up this case. If the Drews can be charged - and even get the chance to be convicted - it would be a day I could be happy with.” Megan Meier:
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Read more:
» Woman Whose Posing as Teen Boy on MySpace Lead to Megan Meier’s Suicide Indicted in Federal Court
» MySpace Poser Lori Drew Whose Charade Lead to Teen’s Suicide Pleads “Not Guilty”
» Web Suicide Pacts Lead to Thousands of Deaths
For additional similar stories check out our archives on Internet Law, MySpace
This certainly is good news. Having the grand jury investigate this awful situation is a step in the right direction. Validating cyber crimes of any nature is what is needed, because a precedent needs to set. This is the future and the future is here now.
Comment by Sara Hilman — 1/11/2008 @ 7:58 am
i agree with sara, though not perhaps a “crime” in law it certainly caused an emotionally vulnerable young girl to commit suicide and there needs to be retribution for the acts of harrassment that led to her death.
“gunner”
Comment by "gunner" — 1/11/2008 @ 8:31 am
Good! I am glad that they are taking this matter seriously. This woman is deplorable and despicable and ought to be ashamed of herself as a Mother and a human being. She not only is setting a terrible example for her child (and god only knows the adult that she will grow up to be), but she never seemed to stop and think, “What if this were happening to my child”. She is a bully and a fine example of why you should have to apply for a license to reproduce! :)
Comment by Jess — 1/11/2008 @ 9:29 am
One can only hope that this fat pig and her fat faced daughter are enjoying all this publicity that they have brought upon themselves. It is quite clear who the world would be better without!
Comment by Russell — 1/11/2008 @ 6:43 pm