Alleged MySpace ‘cyber-bully’ indicted in teen’s suicide

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles today indicted a woman of fraudulently using a MySpace.com account to “cyber-bully” a Missouri teenager who later hanged herself because she believed she was being rejected by a 16-year-old boy she met on the social networking website.

Lori Drew, 49, of O’Fallon, Mo., faces three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on the girl and one count of conspiracy.

The case set off a national furor when it was revealed that 13-year-old Megan Meier was the victim of a hoax perpetrated by Drew, who was the mother of one of the girl’s former friends.

Authorities in Missouri investigated Meier’s October 2006 death but declined to file charges against Drew, saying they were unable to find a statute under which to pursue a criminal case.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles launched a grand jury investigation aimed at determining whether Drew or others defrauded Beverly Hills-based MySpace by providing false information to the website.

As word leaked out that an indictment was pending today, Megan’s father, Ron Meier, said he welcomed any attempt to hold someone accountable.

“I don’t know who is actually is going to end up paying for what happened to our daughter. I just want some justice after all this time,” Meier said. “For the first time in as long as I can remember, I actually have hope.”

Drew’s attorney, H. Dean Steward, said he plans to wage a vigorous defense, suggesting that prosecutors in Los Angeles were overstepping their jurisdiction.

“There are a lot of issues we are going to need to raise, including why it’s happening in Los Angeles,” Steward said. “It seems like a Missouri case no matter how you cut it.”

scott.glover@latimes.com

Times staff writer P.J. Huffstutter contributed to this report.