Indictment Handed Down in Megan Meier "MySpace Suicide" Case
You probably remember the Megan Meier case, in which a teenage girl committed suicide after a MySpace romance went bad. The romance itself and the boy involved were in fact fictional, perpetrated as a vindictive prank by the mother of a former friend who lived down the street.
The suicide occurred in October of 2006, though her parents did not find out the truth until months later. In November of 2007, Megan's home town, Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, created a law banning Internet harassment. And in January of this year, the feds started to look into the case. And now an indictment has been handed down.
A L.A. federal grand jury has indicted Lori Drew, the neighbor involved. Drew has been charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum of 5 years in prison; let's hope she gets the max and serves them consecutively, not concurrently.
Somewhat of a stretch, I'm sure, but I'll take it: the protected-computers charges came about because, according to the indictment, MySpace's terms of service includes not promoting information users know to be false or misleading, or soliciting personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or using information gathered from the Web site to "harass, abuse or harm other people."
The timeline of this case is as follows:
Sept. 2006: 13-year-old Megan Meier begins communicating online on MySpace with "Josh Evans," who she thinks is a boy living in her area.
Oct. 15, 2006: she receives a message from Josh, saying he doesn't want to be her friend anymore. "I don't want to be friends with you anymore because you're not nice to your friends."
Oct. 16, 2006: Megan receives cruel messages through MySpace, including one from "Josh," telling her the world would be a better place without her. Immediately after receivinig Josh's message, Megan runs upstairs, and about 20 minutes later, Megan's mother Tina finds her daughter has hanged herself in her closet.
Oct. 17, 2006: Megan dies at a hospital, a few weeks before her 14th birthday.
Fall 2006: Megan's parents learn from a neighbor that Josh was the creation of another neighbor, Lori Drew, her teenage employee Ashley Grills, and Drew's teenage daughter, a former friend of Megan. They are told the MySpace profile was created to see what Megan was saying about Drew's daughter online.
Fall 2007: Media accounts of Megan's suicide fuel public outrage in the case. Information regarding the address and phone number of the Drews leaks and they are harassed.
Dec. 3, 2007: St. Charles County, Missouri prosecutors can't find statutes allowing them to file charges.
Nov. 22, 2007: Darden Prairie an enacts anti-Internet harassment law.
April 1, 2008: Ashley Grills speaks about her role on Good Morning, America.
May 15, 2008: A Los Angeles federal grand jury indicts Lori Drew for her alleged role in the MySpace hoax, charging her with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization.
Let's hope a final note in this list of events will be a conviction.
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4 comments:
I hope she doesn't get anything out of this! It's not her fault the teenager was stupid enough to go and commit suicide! Those laws that were passed just so they could prosecute her, should be repealed and thrown away! This is utter nonsense!
I'm not saying that the girl dying is a good thing or anything like that, just that it's her own stupidity for doing it. Her family is just out to get revenge for something that was their own damn fault! Had they been paying attention to what their daughter was doing and who they were talking to online, then this wouldn't have gone this far. This is just another case of a parent that neglected their child and in the process their child died so they are looking for someone else to blame! What a fracking joke!!!
Your daughters gone folks, it's your own damn fault, move on and be grateful they haven't arrested YOU for child neglect!!!
There ought to be a morality court for people who are just plain wrong. A 13 year old girl is an easy target. I cannot understand how an adult could do this to a child. How can she live with herself? Just really sad, my heart goes out to all teenages who get hurt by others.
Apparently spacetrucker needs to look up the definition of depression. It's not about stupidity, it's a chemical imbalance. Get a clue.
And also clearly needs to reread the story in detail about the events the night Megan committed suicide, about the activities of the parents. Maybe then he could be informed enough to compose an accurate and less silly comment. But I'm not holding my breath.
What Lori Drew did was criminal, and I hope she rots in prison.
uggh i completely agree with crescendo!!!
spacetrucker obviously has not fully acessed the situation or is just plain stupid...
and young girl was harrased online by a phyco mother and your blaming her parents!!! wow ur an idiot
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