Lori Drew Indicted by DoJ

The Department of Justice has indicted 49 y.o. Lori Drew and unnamed co-conspirators on charges of "one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress". The charges stem from the suicide of 13 y.o. Megan Meier following an online hoax in which the middle-aged Drew and others allegedly created a fictitious MySpace account under the name Josh Evans and subsequently used that account to first win the 13 y.o.'s affections and then publicly humiliate her.

In an original statement to Missouri police, Drew admitted to instigating the hoax, as well as monitoring, reading, and typing the communications between the fictitious Evans and Megan Meier. (Read the original police report). At the time, there were no applicable laws and no charges were filed. Since then, Missouri and 26 other states have adopted cyberbully laws and in March 2008, the U.S. Senate passed a cyberbully bill inspired by the Megan Meier tragedy.

In yesterday's announcement of Drew's indictment, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien issued the following statement, "This adult woman allegedly used the Internet to target a young teenage girl, with horrendous ramifications. After a thorough investigation, we have charged Ms. Drew with criminally accessing MySpace and violating rules established to protect young, vulnerable people. Any adult who uses the Internet or a social gathering Web site to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences."