A US woman faces charges for allegedly perpetrating a hoax on the social networking site MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbour who committed suicide.
Lori Drew, of St Louis, Missouri, is accused of helping to create a MySpace account in the name of someone who did not exist to convince troubled teenager Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy called Josh Evans.
Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.
Ms Drew was charged yesterday with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else’s computer. Each of the four counts carries a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison.
She will appear in court in St Louis and then moved to Los Angeles for trial.
Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending.
“The internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl’s weaknesses,” he said.
“Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she’s responsible for her actions.”
Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorisation to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl.
She has denied creating the account or sending messages to Megan.
Megan’s mother, Tina Meier, said she believed press reports and public outrage helped move the case forward for prosecution.
“I’m thrilled that this woman is going to face charges that she has needed to face since the day we found out what was going on, and since the day she decided to be a part of this entire ridiculous stunt,” she said.
Mrs Meier admitted that Megan was too young to have a MySpace account under the website’s guidelines, said she had been able to closely monitor the account. The family has also acknowledged that Megan was also sending mean messages before her death.
Megan was being treated for attention deficit disorder and depression, her family has said. Mrs Meier has said Ms Drew knew Megan was on medication.
MySpace issued a statement saying it “does not tolerate cyber-bullying” and was co-operating fully with the US attorney.
AP