Missouri Woman Faces Fraud, Conspiracy Charges

November 20th, 2008

Federal prosecutors have begun presenting their side of a computer crime case against Lori Drew, a 49-year old woman accused of setting up a fake MySpace account to taunt one of her daughter’s former friends, Megan Meier.

Megan committed suicide in October 2006 after receiving a series of cruel messages from Drew’s alleged fake MySpace account.

Defendant Faces Criminal Charges

Drew is facing charges, including:

• Fraud
• Conspiracy
• three charges of illegally accessing a computer via interstate commerce for the purposes of harm.

Such federal charges have come into play because, although Drew and Megan lived and interacted in Missouri, the MySpace servers are located in California. Consequently, the trial proceedings are being conducted in the state of California.

Details of Drew’s Alleged Crimes

According to prosecutors, Drew:

• Set up a MySpace account under the fake identity of a 16-year old boy named “Josh Evans” in 2006. Through the Evans account, Drew allegedly emailed back and forth with Megan.
• Used the “Evans” account to send vicious and vindictive messages, resulting in Megan’s suicide.
• Sent the messages, knowing Megan was unstable and suicidal as Drew had previously given Megan her depression medication over a family trip.

Defendant Accused of Causing Suicide

The final online exchange included Evans telling Megan that the world would be better without her. To this, Megan responded that Evans was “the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.” Following this last message, Megan hanged herself.

If convicted on all counts, Drew faces upwards of 15 years in prison.

(Source: New York Times)

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Tags: fake account, MySpace