CRIMINAL JUSTICE: CRIME AND CRIMINALS: BULLYING : INTERNET: Cyber Bullying Mom Charged in MySpace Suicide Case
EDTECH Editor-Jones
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: CRIME AND CRIMINALS: BULLYING :
INTERNET:
Cyber Bullying Mom Charged in MySpace Suicide Case
Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: May 16, 2008
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/16myspace.html>
LOS ANGELES In a highly unusual use of a federal law generally employed in
computer fraud cases, a federal grand jury here on Thursday indicted a Missouri
woman accused of using a phony online identity to trick and taunt a 13-year-old
girl, who committed suicide in response to the cyberbaiting.
The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts
of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to
obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum
penalty of five years in prison.
Ms. Drew lives in OFallon, Mo., where, according to the indictment, she created
a MySpace account under the name Josh Evans in 2006.
<snip>
After a few weeks of chatting, Josh Evans began to send Megan nasty messages,
via the MySpace account, ending with one that suggested the world would be a
better place without her. Megan, believing she had been rejected by Josh,
committed suicide in her home.
Missouri law enforcement officials said they had not found enough evidence to
bring charges in the case, and Ms. Drew, who was 48 when Megan died, has
repeatedly denied creating the account.
But because MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, is based in Beverly
Hills, Calif., and its server is here, federal prosecutors decided to wield a
federal statute that is generally used to prosecute fraud that occurs across
state lines.
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
Prior Net-Gold post regarding this case:
LAW: CASES : CRIMINAL JUSTICE: ISSUES : INTERNET: CYBERBULLYING: Prosecutor
Won't Bring Charges in MySpace Suicide
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/21326>
Addtional Content in Net-Gold regarding cyberbullying:
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/msearch?
query=cyberbullying&submit=Search&charset=utf-8>
A shorter URL for the above link:
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jw...@temple.edu
Net-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
<http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en>
<http://net-gold.jiglu.com/>
General Internet & Print Resources
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet>
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info>
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/20309>
<http://guides.temple.edu/tourism>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
Educator-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/>
K12ADMINLIFE
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/>
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
<http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o>
Net-Gold Membership Required to View Photos
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