LOS ANGELES — A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.
Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn’t exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else’s computer.
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.
Drew, 49, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl. Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Megan, who was a former friend of Drew’s daughter. Drew’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment Thursday.
Megan’s mother, Tina Meier, told The Associated Press she believed media 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.
Tina Meier has acknowledged Megan was too young to have a MySpace account under the website’s guidelines, but she said she had been able to closely monitor the account. Meier’s family has also acknowledged that Megan was also sending mean messages before her death.
U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien said this was the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case. Each of the four counts carries a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison.
Megan’s death was investigated by Missouri authorities, but no state charges were filed because no laws appeared to apply to the case. MySpace is a subsidiary of Beverly Hills-based Fox Interactive Media Inc., which is owned by News Corp. The indictment noted that MySpace computer servers are located in Los Angeles County.
