US mom indicted for MySpace hoax
Hoax ended in teen girl suicide
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:31:00 05/16/2008
Filed Under: Social networking, Internet, Crime, Suicide
LOS ANGELES--A US mom was indicted Thursday for her role in a MySpace hoax that ended with a 13-year-old girl committing suicide after being spurned by a boy who doesn't exist.
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Lori Drew, 49, on criminal charges of conspiracy and accessing MySpace computers "without authorization to inflict emotional distress on the girl."
"This adult woman used the Internet to target an innocent girl with horrendous consequences," Los Angeles US Attorney Thomas O'Brien said during a press conference announcing the indictment.
"Any adult who uses the Internet or a social networking website to bully another person, particularly a vulnerable teen-age girl, should realize this has serious consequences."
Drew was among several adults who pretended to be a 16-year-old boy named "Josh" on MySpace, according to prosecutors. The girl met "Josh" in the online community after she opened her MySpace account in 2006.
"Within days Josh was telling her she was sexy," O'Brien said. "The flirting continued for three weeks."
Josh broke off the virtual relationship and sent the girl a message saying the world would be better off without her, according to prosecutors. Within an hour of receiving the message the girl hanged herself in her bedroom.
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