Mom in MySpace hoax pleads not guilty

A Missouri woman accused of contributing to a teenager's suicide by creating a fake MySpace account to taunt the girl pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday, according to Reuters and other media sources.

After she was implicated in the hoax aimed at harassing a teenage neighbor, Lori Drew of the St. Louis area was charged with conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress.

The case captured the attention of the blogosphere and the world.

The story first broke in Drew's hometown paper, the St. Charles Journal, a year after the October 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier.

It was a twisted tale of an adolescent girl who was tricked into believing a boy she met on MySpace was her boyfriend and was then crushed when he turned on her. The article said that one night comments by "Josh Evans" became increasingly cruel, and his statement to Meier that "the world would be a better place" without her may have led to her suicide that evening.

Prosecutors say Drew was behind the fictional MySpace account, which she created to find out what Meier was saying about her daughter. The girls had experienced a recent falling-out. Drew was a family friend of the Meiers' and was aware of the teenager's battle with depression, according to reports.

When the story hit national airwaves, angry bloggers got involved, outing Drew's name, address, and phone number on the Internet. While the online community fought their battle against Drew, Missouri prosecutors discovered there was no state law that applied to the case.

Now, state and federal legislatures are working to make so-called cyberbullying a crime. Although state laws didn't apply, Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury in May, months after MySpace and other witnesses were subpoenaed.

Drew will stand trial on July 26, and if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison.

[Wookiee-1138]

A cruel and heartless thing to do, certainly. But it's debatable if it broke any laws.

[dogbertbh]

So if she called this girl on the phone or saw her in person and convinced her to kill herself, would THAT be legal?

Even if it wasn't illegal, it was definitely immoral. Death penalty, anyone?

[jpmays]

Absolutely! She deserves what she gets!

[benjaminstraight]

How else do we expect her to plea?

[OldGaDawg]

[by benjaminstraight June 16, 2008 5:18 PM PDT How else do we expect her to plea? ]

Agree .... The problem will be "I think" will be placing either her or her daughter at the computer doing the deed... Another is the IP Address????? Someone had to create the false ID and information there with... This case will be a lengthly one that will bleed the tax payers and the only winners aft will be the lawyers.
I certainly hope to see justice prevail and that Mrs. Drew serves a sentence of at least 20 or more years... If she is not convicted and is acquitted of all charges? Then there is NO JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY and the last words that 13-year-old Megan Meier seen typed that quoted "the world would be a better place without........"? Before she took her life..... I dare not say as to my true feeling for Mrs. Drew or her daughter but to say " I hope that through out the rest of there lives that they can find peace within and that they find forgiveness with God. Weather it was one or the other - Or that they are covering for someone else?????
Children are precious and need the guidance from there parents and others. For they will be the next generation to take the reigns of this country. And if we as parents and as adults don't come to realize this ---- well ---- May God be with us.....

[humanssssss]

What you said there is wishing death and punishment upon a human. That is exactly the same crime she is wishing upon another person. Does it mean a police can arrest you for this comment?

It's incredible how ignorant somebody can be when it comes to hurtful words like the author reply above. I'm really surprised if the police isn't after this person. Most hypocrites are like that, like those who pass child porn law and refuse to allow gay marriage, etc. are perpetuating what they are inside.

This is very true with all humans, you are the opposite of what you suppress. Most behavioral psychologists recommend venting to relieve stress. They also recommend do not let anger kept in like a pressure cooker because it will lead to more dangerous action. Anyways, if u don't understand what I'm saying, don't read it. Do you have that right? Yes. Just like the girl Megan, but she refused to detach herself from the harmful words and subject herself to the torture and kill herself due to the lack of state and parental attention.

[humanssssss]

I find people who lack Constitution studies are the one spewing comments that are not in line with the freedom they come to expect. In America, we have the freedom of speech. This has been watered down over the years by religious nuts and ignorant people who don't study hard enough to make it through college to tell what others should and should not do. Speech is only harmful if the recipient receives the speech in a harmful way. People always and continue to believe they have the right to mute others from saying what they don't like. This will turn not only the country in a fascist nation but will lead to what Hitler did to his country. It provides an opening for extremist from the right or left wing to legislate speech and using this law as a enforcement vehicle to pierce into the private lives people.

When a person is given power, he/she will be corrupted with said power. Look at Obama, he already felt that he is the president and has now been on the road to make presidential statements as if he is the president of the United States. In fact, he even mentioned about removing the threat in Iran and supplying Israel with $30B for defense. I guessed this is a signal to Iran, you better watch out, a war is about to come to YOU. Do you think this is what we need?!?

America is beginning to fall victim to the ignorants who want to restrict speech. First the CAN-SPAM which of course, conveniently states that political emails are exempt. Ridiculous!

Bring back the Constitutionalist Party!

[magnadude]

Constitution, whats that? Hehe....If that were actually followed, there would be no preemptive war in the middle east, there would be no income tax, and there would be no question as to the legality of firearms and who can have them....the list goes on. Its kind of like the "ten suggestions" in the bible. Freedom is slipping away because its very definition is being raped and plundered. Now its getting to the point that one person's freedom is another's oppression. Hold people accountable for their actions rather than their words. What that women did was down right heartless if not pure evil and I hope it eats her from the inside out for eternity, but there can't be any pre-existing law that would put her in prison for twenty years! What appears to be happening is that people in the system have wrongly made this a personal matter and are, for lack of a better description, inventing charges and then trumping them up as far as possible. Though she probably deserves as harsh a punishment as any, this is gross misuse of the justice system.

[romoal123]

Where is the responsibility of the parents? They admit they continued to let her communicate with a boy they had never met or knew nothing about. If there was bullying why did the parents allow her to keep her myspace page?

[warriorbax]

Where are the parents of the girl that killed herself? Maybe they should have paid more attention to their girl and not let her be stupid enough to get into an internet relationship with a stranger from MySpace. Or perhaps, if she had depression, maybe they should have treated it. All in all, I think Darwin is defiantly at work here. I think the parents of the girl who killed herself should be prosecuted for child endangerment or possibly involuntary manslaughter. Bullies are a part of this world, get used to it, don't take it to hard.

[faceless128]

What she did was pretty awful, especially for a parent, but still, she did nothing illegal. I hope these bogus charges fail. This isn't some sort of communist regime where the leaders can stretch and contort the law to suit their needs. There are no real charges that can be brought against her, so instead they stretch and pull the law in an effort to look like they're doing something when they can't do anything. This is a waste of taxpayer money, period.

[romoal123]

Where is the responsibility of the parents? They admit they continued to let her communicate with a boy they had never met or knew nothing about. If there was bullying why did the parents allow her to keep her myspace page?

[MrMe003]

what, no law? what about "involuntary manslaughter"?

[gjcope]

The Christian in me prays for Lori Drew and hopes that she will spend the rest of her life trying to make amends for the devestation and heartbreak she has brought to Megan's family. The human being in me hopes that she goes to prison for as long as the law allows and that HER family suffers for as long as possible.

[sadie717]

There are several things going on here that should concern every citizen using the Internet. MySpace is one of the most useless blots on the Internet. They cannot guarantee anyone's privacy or safety regardless of they say. Anybody can create any profile they wish and MySpace can do nothing, I repeat, nothing about it. How could they possibly know who you are, your age, sex, etc. What's more they don't care. This woman did nothing wrong or illegal and she is nothing more than a test case. And before all you bleeding hearts out there start ******** about this girl's suicide. let's be real here. Who is really at fault? The parents thats who. The girl spends all her time in her room on MySpace and they can't be bothered to check on her. Please!!! No one takes responsibility for their actions in this country anymore. Blame the neighbors, the schools, the friends, anyone but the real culprits, the parents. I reallly feel for this woman indicted for absolutely nothing.

[Whys333]

I hope you die of insomnia, you black hearted b!tc#.

[GlennAllen]

The only "mom" (and I use the term loosely) who should be pleading guilty here is that of the poor girl, whom she raised to be so gullible as to believe she could be "in love" with someone she had never even met. Way to go to the un-caring, un-involved parents of Megan--you both belong in jail.

[sadie717]

At least someone gets the truth about this fiasco. If this woman is dragged through the courts and found guilty, it would be a travestly of justice. Where is the outrage at these clueless parents?? How can they honestly believe that they have no responsibility in this? Why aren't they, at the very least, standing next to the so-called criminal in court? Oh wait, that's right. It's not they're fault that they ignore their child and let MySpace deal with her issues. These two idiots are the one's responsible for their daughter's death and no one else.

[benjaminstraight]

Tragic story.

[lotus666]

i think its cruel what she did but its not really her fault if she diddnt know that the girl had problems right?