A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said yesterday in a trial that is being closely watched by the burgeoning social networking industry.
Prosecutors say Lori Drew (49) posed as a teenage boy named Josh Evans on the social networking website MySpace.com and exchanged messages with 13-year-old Megan Meier.
Ms Drew's daughter and Megan had been friends but had a falling out, attorneys said.
US attorney Thomas O'Brien said Ms Drew, her daughter and an employee of Ms Drew's "hatched a plot to prey on the psyche" of a girl she knew was "vulnerable, suicidal and boy crazy."
"Her purpose was to tease Megan Meier, to tease her, to humiliate her and to hurt her," Mr O'Brien said in Wednesday's opening statements.
Ms Drew is charged with conspiracy and accessing protected computers to obtain information for the purpose of inflicting emotional distress.