Mom indicted in deadly MySpace hoax

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A Missouri mom was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in the death of a teen who killed herself over a failed Internet romance that turned out to be a hoax.

A federal indictment accuses Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri, of using the social networking Web site MySpace.com to pose as a 16-year-old boy and feign romantic interest in the girl.

The girl, Megan Meier, committed suicide after her online love interest spurned her, according to prosecutors, telling her the world would be a better place without her.

Drew faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers to obtain information to inflict emotional distress.

The indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accuses Drew and others of registering on MySpace as "Josh Evans" and using the account to lure Meier into an an online romance.

Authorities have previously said that Drew set up the account to find out what Meier, who lived in her neighborhood, was saying about her daughter.

Prosecutors allege that Drew and the others violated MySpace's terms of service by using false information to create the account so they could "harass, abuse or harm" Meier, according to the indictment.

The two corresponded for about four weeks before "Josh" broke off the relationship, authorities said. Within an hour, Meier hanged herself in her room and died the next day.
The indictment does not allege that Drew sent the final message telling Meier the world would be a better place without her. Instead, it blames her unnamed co-conspirators, who authorities have previously said include a teenage girl.

After Drew learned of the teen's suicide, the indictment alleges, she directed one of the teens involved to "keep her mouth shut" and deleted the account.

Meier's mother, Tina Meier, told CNN in November that her daughter had self-esteem issues and had struggled with depression since childhood.

She said when her daughter began receiving messages from "Josh" telling her she was pretty, she was thrilled.

When "Josh" broke off the relationship, Tina Meier said, her daughter was devastated.

"She was looking for me to help calm herself down like I always did and be there for her. And I was upset because I didn't like the language she was using, and I was angry she didn't sign off when I told her to," Tina Meier told CNN. Video Watch Tina Meier's reaction to the charges »

"She said to me, 'You're supposed to be my mom, you're supposed to be on my side,' and then took off running upstairs," Tina Meier said.

Tina Meier found her daughter hanging by a belt shortly afterward.

"It's as if my daughter killed herself with a gun," Meier's father, Ron, told CNN. "And it's as if they loaded the gun for her."

Drew is scheduled for arraignment in June.

"This adult woman allegedly used the Internet to target a young teenage girl, with horrendous ramifications," U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said in a written statement.

"Any adult who uses the Internet or a social gathering Web site to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences," O'Brien said.

In December, Missouri prosecutors declined to file charges against Drew, saying there was no law under which she could be charged.

"There is no way that anybody could know that talking to someone or saying that you're mean to your friends on the Internet would create a substantial risk," St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said. "Under the law, we just couldn't show that."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/15/...ide/index.html

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Proud American!

Communism/Socialism is similar to legalizing burglary and murder!

That Drew woman is a retard.

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Did they look like psychos? Is that what they looked like? They were vampires. Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a **** how crazy they are!

She's an adult who should have known better and needs to spend some time in jail as a reminder of her wholly irresponsible actions.

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I have never had more sympathy for another human being in my life. Just too sad.

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Agreed. She didn't mean for anyone to die, of course, and 20 years isn't going to happen, but she needs some time in jail. 40 year old parents should know better than to bully kids on-line.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Methinks she's taking the fall for her child.

Granted, it's wrong but I fail to see how any laws have been broken. If they wanna fine her, fine. But what did she do wrong, that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people have already done?

On the other hand...Tina Meier is an ATTENTION WHORE. She's been ALL OVER the media in St. Louis, fishing for as much sympathy as she can get. I live three miles from Dardenne Prairie, and it's populated by two kinds of people...trailer park rednecks and ultra-snobbish debutante wannabe housewives, with their overly-sheltered spawn.
...As you can guess, Mrs. Meier does not live in a trailer.

Has anyone asked this uppity ho about watching what her kid does on the internet? No. Has anyone asked her about how much involvement she had with her kid? Did she know who all her friends were? No.

Finally, the article panders on the kid's "self-esteem issues." That describes 80% of kids in that area! All those kinda kids live in planned neighborhoods (think Edward Scissorhands), and are overly-sheltered and protected from any possible kind of negativity. No wonder she freaked out. This was probably the first "bad" thing to ever happen to her, and she didn't know how to deal with it. (Have you seen the picture of Mrs Meier holding the portrait of her kid with the little princess crown on? ...so fitting.)

Sure it was a tragedy, and the Drew woman is to blame, but it's not as cut and dry as the media (especially the STL media) would like you to think it is. I blame BOTH parents, and parenting in general. It promotes the wussification of our country, by raising children who are ill-prepared for life's harsh realities.

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From what I know about the case, which in all honesty comes from the posts above and this morning's Good Morning America segment on it, she was one who came up with the idea and got the ball rolling. This is not a case of her daughter doing something the mom knew nothing about.

Agreed. Which is why 20 years is more than a bit harsh. But what she did was clearly wrong and she should have known better as a parent. I'd toss her in jail for being a crappy parent.

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It's likely that she knew about it. But, when you look at motivation for something like this, the daughter has it, the mother doesn't.

Of course, there's no real way to prove who did what in a case like this, but, it seems to me, the mom has a very good reason to say she did it.

Only in Missouri!