Federal prosecutors are considering charging a mother in the girl's neighborhood with defrauding MySpace by creating a false account that she, her daughter and a teenage employee used to fool 13-year-old Megan Meier into believing she was communicating with a 16-year-old boy, the Los Angeles Times said Tuesday on its Web site, citing unidentified sources.
It said its sources insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Megan, of suburban St. Louis, hanged herself in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages from the fictional boy she had befriended online, including one saying the world would be better off without her.
The neighborhood woman, Lori Drew, has denied creating the account but acknowledged being aware of it. She also has denied sending any messages to Megan or being aware of the unkind messages.
Prosecutors in Missouri declined to charge anyone because no laws appeared to apply to the case.
A Missouri state panel formed by Gov. Matt Blunt after the suicide met for the final time Tuesday and said it would recommend making certain types of harassment a felony, such as if anyone 21 or older harasses people 17 and younger.
Several grand jury subpoenas issued last week included one to MySpace and others to witnesses, the Times reported.
Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, told the AP he could not comment on grand jury matters, which are secret.
Lori Drew's attorney Jim Briscoe told the AP that the Drews had not been subpoenaed, and that he did not know of anyone else who had received a subpoena. "I do not know if it's true," he said of the report.
MySpace officials had no immediate comment.
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola University Law School, said that if the government convened a grand jury it would be trying to create a case in which MySpace would be the victim of a fraud meaning the person who perpetrated the fraud could be prosecuted.
"The whole case is curious," she said, and could raise First Amendment issues of free speech.
The Times reported that its sources said federal prosecutors in Los Angeles believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace is based in Beverly Hills.
Our thanks to Denise Marhoefer of The Defense Foundation For Children USA
for sending us this tip - Fighter
ORIGINAL
FEDS ISSUE SUBPEONAS IN MYSPACE SUICIDE CASE
GRAND JURY STEPS IN ON MEGAN MEIER CASE
MEGAN MEIER CASE MEETS DR. PHIL
1 comment:
I have decided to post and distribute an open letter to Jack Banas, which I'll be posting in the next 24 hours.
My Letter will be asking Jack to explain why he has refused to prosecute a clear cut crime Lori is committing - which is undisputable.
Lori Drew filed a police report that detailed her involvement in the harassment endured by Megan before her suicide.
Lori Drew gave a detailed statement on this police report and signed it, sealing the report as her sworn testimony under oath.
Filing a false police report is a crime in Missouri.
Lori Drew now disputes the information in that police report.
She has denied involvement in the creation of the MySpace account as well as her participation in communicating with Megan Meier.
This new admission directly refutes the testimony she gave in the prior police report.
Lori Drew has a decision to make.
Did she lie then, or is she lying now?
She cannot have it both ways.
Since Lori Drew has issued an official statement to police that she did NOT do any of the things she SWORE to doing in the police report, authorities in this case have unrefutable evidence that Lori Drew filed a false police report and signed off on this false statement in violation of Missouri law.
Authorities who do not respond to this crime are then setting a clear example to the public they serve that filing false statements on a police report is acceptable in Dardenne Prairie.
This is a clear, tangible, undenyable violation of law that Jack Banas and other authorities can no longer dance around.
Either they will follow the law and enforce the law, or they will not. It's up to them...
I will no longer accept this outright thumbing of their noses to the evidence that is crystal clear, published and formally violating the law.
The Dardeene Prairie police have multiple statements on the record from Lori Drew and now her attorney... These statements completely contridict Lori's sworn statements on almost every point.
Unless Dardenne Prairie police are able to prove that the officer who took the statement and filed the report is lying, they must act on the contents of the report, which is now refuted by Drew's attorney as being factually accurate.
Please contact the Dardenne Prairie police dept. and share with them your outrage for their refusal to enforce the law in Dardenne Prairie.
Danny Vice
http://weeklyvice.blogspot.com
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