Parents Want Jail Time For MySpace Hoax

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MrsSpringsteen

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I have read about this case for a couple of weeks now, I just cannot wrap my head around a 48 year old doing such a thing to a 13 year old. Adults bullying other adults via the internet is bad enough. Shouldn't there be some sort of legal consequences for this?

abcnews.com

Parents Want Jail Time for MySpace Hoax Mom
Neighbor Recounts Conversation With Lori Drew About Her Fake Online Identity

Nov. 29, 2007 —

The family of Megan Meier, the 13-year-old girl who took her own life after being bullied on MySpace, is demanding justice and jail time for the adult involved in the bullying.

Lori Drew, the Meiers' 48-year-old neighbor in suburban St. Louis, admitted in a police report that she created a fictitious MySpace account and pretended to be a boy with a romantic interest in Megan. According to the police report, Drew created the profile to find out what Megan was saying online about her teenage daughter.

Megan hanged herself in her closet in October 2006. When police eventually decided that Drew had committed no crime, Megan's parents, who had remained silent about the case until that point, spoke out.

"You cannot as an adult sit there and do that and hide behind a computer. It is a criminal act. We want to see her go to jail," said Tina Meier, Megan's mother.

In an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America," the neighbor who first tipped off police about Drew's involvement says that Drew confessed to her that she had played a hoax on Megan.

"She did sit here in my living room and confess everything to me. She told me that they had pulled an image of a boy off the Internet and that they had created an account using the name of Josh Evans, and she said she knew the last message that left her house that Monday when Megan attempted her life was that, 'The world would be a better place without you,'" said the neighbor, who asked that her identity not be revealed.

Now others are calling for justice in the case. Prosecutors say they are reviewing the case to determine whether anyone will be charged with a crime.

Last week the board of aldermen in the Meiers' hometown, Dardenne Prairie, Mo., passed a law making Internet bullying a misdemeanor in the town.

"It's time that we do something against this. On all levels, the state and federal level," Dardenne Prairie Mayor Pam Fogarty said.

The Back Story

Megan sometimes suffered from low self-esteem and was on medication at the time of her death.

"That is what makes it even more disgusting, that she knew the circumstances around our daughter and still played on it," said Megan's father, Ron Meier.

But Megan's family said she looked forward to her 14th birthday and having her braces removed.

When a cute boy befriended Megan on the social networking site MySpace, the two formed a quick connection during their more-than-monthlong relationship.

"She got this e-mail from this boy named 'Josh Evans,'" Tina Meier said.

Josh claimed to be a 16-year-old boy who lived nearby and was home-schooled. But what began as a promising online friendship soon turned sour, as compliments turned to insults.

Josh said he didn't have a phone and so Megan couldn't talk to him. But the two continued their communication online, despite some red flags Tina Meier said she saw.

"It was just that nervous mom," she said. She called police to find out whether they could determine whether a MySpace account was real. They couldn't.

Still, all seemed to go well between Megan and Josh until an unsettling message started a tragic chain of events.

"Megan gets an e-mail, or a message from Josh on her MySpace on Oct. 15, 2006, saying, 'I don't know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you're not nice to your friends,'" Tina Meier said.

The person using Josh's account was sending cruel messages and Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat," according to The Associated Press.

The cyberexchange devastated Megan, who was unable to understand how and why her friendship had unraveled. The stress and frustration was too much for Megan, who had a history of depression.

Tina Meier discovered her daughter's body in a bedroom closet Oct. 16, 2006. Megan had hanged herself and she died a day later.

But six weeks after Megan's death, the Meiers learned that Josh never existed. A mother, who had learned of the page from her own daughter, told the Meiers that Drew had created and monitored Josh's profile and page.

There was a connection between the Meiers and Drew's family. In fact, Drew had asked the Meiers whether her family could store their foosball table.

Once they learned Drew's involvement, the Meiers destroyed the table, placed it in Drew's yard and encouraged the family to move, according to the AP.

"That's the biggest tragedy of this whole thing: An adult did it," Ron Meier said.
 
The fact that an adult did this to a child is disgusting. How sick does one have to be to do something like that?

I'm glad the parents are fighting to get justice for their daughter. As with the online predators and such, precedents need to start being set for these types of cases because sadly, they're becoming all too common these days. Just because there's never been such a case before doesn't mean that you can't find a way to prosecute. It's happened time and time again, and I hope it happens here.
 
Paraphrasing something Dennis Miller said many years ago

'If you ever find yourself in a position where you want to harm or do harm to a child sexually or psychologically, then (long pause) you need to kill yourself right now and help us thin out this herd of collective nutcases."

How pathetic is one's life when they have to hide behind acmoputer and torment a 13 year old?
 
She's an asshole. It's not a crime. If it was half the world would be in jail.

Not saying it wasn't vile, what she did. It is. But she didn't actually do anything.
 
I wonder if there are grounds for a civil suit then. Might be the way to pursue it.
 
LarryMullen's_POPAngel said:

I'm glad the parents are fighting to get justice for their daughter. As with the online predators and such, precedents need to start being set for these types of cases because sadly, they're becoming all too common these days. Just because there's never been such a case before doesn't mean that you can't find a way to prosecute. It's happened time and time again, and I hope it happens here.

But how could you ever define this as a crime? You can't say 'because the bullying led to a suicide' it can now be tried as a crime, because hundreds of experts would say there are many other factors with teen suicide. And how would you define bullying? Half of interference may be under investigation using some people's definition of bullying.

It's a slippery slope. And this case will definately tug on people's heartstrings, it does mine, but I just can't see how it will ever be possible to convict crimes like these.

People can claim stolen passwords, it was an obvious joke, multiple computer personalities, etc...
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


But how could you ever define this as a crime? You can't say 'because the bullying led to a suicide' it can now be tried as a crime, because hundreds of experts would say there are many other factors with teen suicide. And how would you define bullying? Half of interference may be under investigation using some people's definition of bullying.

It's a slippery slope. And this case will definately tug on people's heartstrings, it does mine, but I just can't see how it will ever be possible to convict crimes like these.

People can claim stolen passwords, it was an obvious joke, multiple computer personalities, etc...

It is indeed a slippery slope, which is why it's even harder to imagine that this will go unpunished. What's to stop this person from doing this to another child? I'm not saying that child would go and kill themselves, but then does it become easier to go after them for being a repeat offender?

I don't know. Who's to say that this child would have killed herself anyway, given her history and such. There are so many angles to this story. You make several good points, but in the end a child was driven to suicide and I hope that somehow this woman has to pay. Like Bono's Saint said, perhaps this will come in the form of a civil suit. :shrug:
 
Different things impact people in different ways. I've read tons of tagic stories, and, I'm often surprised at how.....accustomed....I've become to such things....but, I read that article twice, and welled up after the 2nd reading. It's just so very beyond my ability to comprehend, and it's insanely frustrating. Poor fucking kid. She did nothing to anyone, she was just trying to wade through the morass that is adolesence, in the best way she knew how. She wasn't terrorizing someone parent's child, she was not some juvenile delinquent, she was not a bad seed, she was just an awkward girl with a problem she never asked for. I cannot convey just how much this bothers me, nor how much venom I have towards this insane excuse for a human being, this Lori Drew. There will be no legal consequences, I'm sure, but I hope she suffers mental torment for the rest of her fucking life.

G-d I hate this story.
 
I'm not for certain if there are absolutely no legal consequences. This is taken from the Myspace Terms and Conditions:

The following is a partial list of the kind of activity that is illegal or prohibited on the MySpace Website and through your use of the MySpace Services. MySpace.com reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in MySpace.com's sole discretion, violates this provision, including without limitation, reporting you to law enforcement authorities. Prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to:

1. criminal or tortious activity, including child pornography, fraud, trafficking in obscene material, drug dealing, gambling, harassment, stalking, spamming, spimming, sending of viruses or other harmful files, copyright infringement, patent infringement, or theft of trade secrets;

2. advertising to, or solicitation of, any Member to buy or sell any products or services through the MySpace Services. You may not transmit any chain letters or junk email to other Members. It is also a violation of these rules to use any information obtained from the MySpace Services in order to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any Member without their prior explicit consent. In order to protect our Members from such advertising or solicitation, MySpace.com reserves the right to restrict the number of emails which a Member may send to other Members in any 24-hour period to a number which MySpace.com deems appropriate in its sole discretion. If you breach this Agreement and send unsolicited bulk email, instant messages or other unsolicited communications of any kind through the MySpace Services, you acknowledge that you will have caused substantial harm to MySpace.com, but that the amount of such harm would be extremely difficult to ascertain. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay MySpace.com $50 for each such unsolicited email or other unsolicited communication you send through the MySpace Services;
3. covering or obscuring the banner advertisements on your personal profile page, or any MySpace.com page via HTML/CSS or any other means;
4. any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to add friends or send comments or messages;
5. interfering with, disrupting, or creating an undue burden on the MySpace Services or the networks or services connected to the MySpace Services;
6. attempting to impersonate another Member or person;

7. for band profiles, copying the code for your MySpace Player and embedding it into other profiles or asking other Members to embed it into their profiles;
8. using the account, username, or password of another Member at any time or disclosing your password to any third party or permitting any third party to access your account;
9. selling or otherwise transferring your profile;
10. using any information obtained from the MySpace Services in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person;
11. displaying an advertisement on your profile, or accepting payment or anything of value from a third person in exchange for your performing any commercial activity on or through the MySpace Services on behalf of that person, such as placing commercial content on your profile, posting blogs or bulletins with a commercial purpose, selecting a profile with a commercial purpose as one of your "Top 8" friends, or sending private messages with a commercial purpose; or
12. using the MySpace Services in a manner inconsistent with any and all applicable laws and regulations.


i mean, it doesn't say what the legal consequences are, just that one can get reported to the authorities. but hey a breach of contract is a breach of contract.
 
And I believe Bush signed a federal law about online harassment. The town where it happened did this as a result. Unless the girl attempted suicide before that, well her depression would not automatically result in that. I think it's pretty clear given the description of the timing of events, if accurate, that that is what prompted the suicide. Just think back to how something like that affected all of us when we were that age.

abcnews.com

Town Rules Internet Harrassment a Crime
Girl's Suicide Prompts Vote, Online Badgering Ruled Illegal
By SCOTT MICHELS

Nov. 22, 2007 —

The town where an Internet hoax apparently led to a teenage girl's suicide unanimously voted to make online harassment a crime today, according to The Associated Press.

The vote makes Internet harassment a misdemeanor and punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail, according to the report.

The ruling is a result of an incident that occured last year, where 13-year-old Megan Meier hanged herself inside her parents' home in Dardenne Prairie, Ill. The apparent cause of her suicide, her parents have said, was the sudden decline of her online relationship with a 16-year-old boy they thought was named Josh Evans.

But, soon after their daughter's death, Tina and Ron Meier discovered that there was no Josh Evans. They say the boy who pretended to be Megan's friend and then sent her nasty messages was the creation of an adult neighbor who still lives down the street from Ron Meier.

Though police and prosecutors have investigated, a year later, no criminal charges have been filed against the woman who allegedly created the online profile, and it's unclear whether any will be brought.

Tonight, the town's board of Aldermen will vote on a proposal to make online harassment a misdemeanor, said Mayor Pam Fogarty.

"It's not much, but at least it's something," Fogarty said of the proposed ordinance. "I think it's absolutely horrible that an adult can do this to a child, much less the mother of a friend and there is nothing to charge her with."
 
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LarryMullen's_POPAngel said:


but in the end a child was driven to suicide and I hope that somehow this woman has to pay.

I think there are certain crimes in society that are unpunishable by law, but will be punishable in other ways, be it mental anguish or an afterlife, etc...

Bigotry, racism, sexism, etc all acceptable by law, but hopefully someday those will somehow understand and pay for what they've done.
 
Since that woman was even capable of doing something so heinous, I have my doubts as to how guilty she feels about it, how much anguish she feels. She knew about the girl's fragile state and depression too, that makes it even worse. And knows about any 13 year old girl's potential fragile state, I assume. Most human beings would feel incredibly guilty or wouldn't ever do it in the first place, I hope. She didn't do anything? She emotionally manipulated and harassed and used abusive words to and about a child online, and through a false identity. I sincerely hope half the world wouldn't be guilty of something like that.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
She didn't do anything? She emotionally manipulated and harassed and used abusive words to and about a child online, and through a false identity. I sincerely hope half the world wouldn't be guilty of something like that.

She didn't do anything in the eyes of the law.

Just think about it from a purely legal view. How impossible would it be to prove anything?
 
Well she admitted in the police report that she created the false identity on MySpace. I don't know what else is in the police report but she confessed far more than that to the neighbor. That's a good start. It most definitely should be a punishable crime. I don't know exactly what the federal online harassment law is.
 
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6024695.html


A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here's the relevant language.

"Whoever...utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person...who receives the communications...shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
Well she admitted in the police report that she created the false identity on MySpace. I don't know what else is in the police report but she confessed far more than that to the neighbor. That's a good start. It most definitely should be a punishable crime. I don't know exactly what the federal online harassment law is.

Yes but if you've seen enough episodes of Law & Order confessions aren't always "proof".

We'll see...
 
I don't think Lori Drew was merely being an "asshole," and I think this case goes well beyond ordinary "bullying," let alone assuming false identities for nonmalicious purposes. It's the elaborate, calculated, protracted sadism of the whole thing that I really find chilling. OK, granted, lots of parents get waaaaay too identified with their teenagers' social dramas, and it's not unheard of for them to blow a gasket, forget they're adults, and go off a one-time vile rant against their kid's "enemies," whether in person or via email or whatever. But this woman actually went to the trouble of hiring another teenager to help her set up the needed online facades, solicited other kids who carpooled with her daughter to get them to join in on the "fun," and spent six weeks playing cat-and-mouse with this girl to build up the conceit before snapping the rubber band back the other way. It would be the very, very rare fellow teenager who would have the manipulative savvy, the studied persistence, and the subtlety to pull off something like that, especially if they were doing it out of vengefulness. Really, except for the calculatedness of it all, it sounds almost sociopathic.
 
yolland said:
I don't think Lori Drew was merely being an "asshole," and I think this case goes well beyond ordinary "bullying," let alone assuming false identities for nonmalicious purposes. It's the elaborate, calculated, protracted sadism of the whole thing that I really find chilling. OK, granted, lots of parents get waaaaay too identified with their teenagers' social dramas, and it's not unheard of for them to blow a gasket, forget they're adults, and go off a one-time vile rant against their kid's "enemies," whether in person or via email or whatever. But this woman actually went to the trouble of hiring another teenager to help her set up the needed online facades, solicited other kids who carpooled with her daughter to get them to join in on the "fun," and spent six weeks playing cat-and-mouse with this girl to build up the conceit before snapping the rubber band back the other way. It would be the very, very rare fellow teenager who would have the manipulative savvy, the studied persistence, and the subtlety to pull off something like that, especially if they were doing it out of vengefulness. Really, except for the calculatedness of it all, it sounds almost sociopathic.

Word to your post, Yolland. It's one thing to say to your child, "Yes, your nemisis is a nasty person" and leave it at that, and quite another to actually set out to ruin a child's life with such maliciousness and calculation knowing that child has issues with depression and suicide. My mind can't wrap around why an adult and a PARENT would do something like this. It's so disgusting.
 
I just can't get over the fact that someone who is at least probably 15 years older than me, if not more, had the audacity to do something like this. OK wait, that ANYONE would have the audacity to do this, but....damn.
I don't have kids yet, but no matter how bad someone hurt them, my husband and I would NEVER teach them to seek revenge.

I can't believe that the neighbor that did this doesnt feel more remorse. I read an article a few days ago where she stated that she had involvement and she was sorry that someone "lost their kid", but that was it. She flat out said she felt no responsibility for this what-so-ever.

How in the world would she feel if the roles were reversed and her precious little daughter were the one that hanged herself and someone said flat out they didn't care that their actions, the actions of an adult, brought this on.

I'd want the person to serve jail time as well. I'd want them to be locked up and not able to corrupt or hurt more kids the way they already had. It always makes me wonder why people sue other people for absurd amounts of money in cases like this, and the fact that the girls family so far has not sued this lady, I think says alot for them.
All they want is for her to be arrested, at least they're not going after her for 12 million dollars.

That's what I dont get. These people that would sue someone for that much money......why???? Yes I understand the cost of a funeral, the trauma fee's, etc. but I knew someone that was in a car accident and was the only survivor. The other two in the other car were 16 and 17 and they were 2 times the legal limit of being drunk and were going 75 down an on ramp on a highway. Their parents tried suing for 125million dollars for the "emotional damages".
Even if your children would have made that much money in their lifetime..... :scratch:
Society is so screwed up today.
 
Wow. Just wow.

I think there is a lesson here for kids never to take the internet too seriously, because there are despicable people out there, liars, sociopaths, psycho nutcases. This is not at all the thirteen year old girl's fault, and that's not my point. I mean, she's 13 years old for God's sake. But hopefully, other kids will consider the source, or lack thereof, when on the internet in the future.

As for this woman, it's a difficult situation as to how they can charge her, I agree, but there are laws she's broken here that she can be charged with, though none of which will be enough.
 
Megan

1120072inside1.jpg


The police reports are on Smoking Gun

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1120072megan1.html?link=rssfeed
 
that's so ridiculous that she wanted to to "relieve herself by telling the Meiers of her involvement". Seriously...how in the world can that be relieving? Yeah, ok to admit it, to a point, but COME ON! You should feel as much guilt and remorse as anyone.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
But how could you ever define this as a crime? You can't say 'because the bullying led to a suicide' it can now be tried as a crime, because hundreds of experts would say there are many other factors with teen suicide. And how would you define bullying? Half of interference may be under investigation using some people's definition of bullying.

It's a slippery slope. And this case will definately tug on people's heartstrings, it does mine, but I just can't see how it will ever be possible to convict crimes like these.

People can claim stolen passwords, it was an obvious joke, multiple computer personalities, etc...

Exactly. It's a tricky situation.

That said, I'd like to see the woman (I'm not calling her a "lady" 'cause, let's face it, she is far from one) get punished just so she can maybe, just maybe, get it in her head that this kind of behavior is beyond stupid. Unfortunately, though, if you're that demented to do something like that to begin with, I don't know if you're capable of feeling remorse.

Angela
 
This woman is a nutbag and a half. I have a hard time believing that somebody that disturbed would not have done similarly fucked up things in the past. Who knows what else they could uncover about her if they dug a bit deeper?
 
Such a heartbreaking story...the woman is obviously deranged, or was at the time. I can't imagine how the girl's parents feel. There should be some sort of recourse...if not legal, then perhaps the greatest punishment would be to block internet access for this woman from all providers.
 
who was it that said something like:

"whether good or bad, people rarely get what they deserve."

this woman won't get what she deserves, but at least the town enacted future punishment. It's going to be cases like this that bring up laws to punish this type of behavior.

Unfortunately the internet moves much faster than the law.
unless MySpace brings some action against her..
I doubt that will happen, as much as i would like to see it.
 
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