Hoaxes

A Missouri woman indicted for her alleged role in a MySpace.com hoax against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide will be arraigned June 16 in Los Angeles. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said 49-year-old Lori Drew does not have to surrender to authorities in Missouri. A federal grand jury indicted Drew earlier this month on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on her 13-year-old neighbor.

A Sunny Hills High School teacher believed to have been framed on drug and gun allegations earlier this week said Friday that he will go on a voluntary administrative leave until the end of the school year and return in the fall. "Things are just going to be too crazy at the school now," said Gregory Abbott, 31, of Placentia. He said the Fullerton Joint Union High School District gave him the option to take the administrative leave until early June. He received word from Assistant Supt.

The New York woman who sued Oscar De La Hoya -- seeking $25 million for slander and claiming she was pressured to recant the legitimacy of photos she allegedly took of the boxer in fishnet stockings, high heels and other women's garb -- has dismissed her claim. Facing a possible countersuit by De La Hoya, model and former stripper Milana Dravnel dismissed her case Friday after an expert assessed the photos as "doctored," De La Hoya's attorney said.

The estranged wife of a Fullerton high school teacher and her boyfriend documented in a series of text messages nearly every step of a plan to plant a shotgun and marijuana in the instructor's car, according to court documents released Monday. Gregory Abbott, 31, a teacher at Sunny Hills High School, was arrested last month when police, acting on a tip, searched his car in the school parking lot and found a shotgun, marijuana and prescription drugs.

Nearly a month after Charter Oak High School began investigating how fake names for members of the Black Student Union and other students were published in the yearbook, school officials are still looking for a way to resolve the controversy. Administrators at the Covina school will meet with BSU members and their families Monday to determine the best solution, said Principal Kathleen Wiard.

Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber gorilla suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say the carcass encased in a block of ice was thawed and found to be a fraud. Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, announced the findings on a Website run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi. Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County, Ga.

Milan's Osteria L'Intrepido restaurant won Wine Spectator magazine's award of excellence this year despite a wine list that features a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe S. Sofia, which the magazine once likened to "paint thinner and nail varnish." Even worse: Osteria L'Intrepido doesn't exist. To the magazine's chagrin, the restaurant is a Web-based fiction devised by wine critic and author Robin Goldstein, who said he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards.

Apple Inc. investors experienced palpitations Friday after an apparently false report that Chief Executive Steve Jobs had had a heart attack sent shares down 9% in a matter of minutes. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the report, which appeared just before 7 a.m. EDT on iReport .com, a user-submitted news website run by CNN.

A Midwestern mother accused of using a fake MySpace account to torment a teenager who later committed suicide thought the plan was a clever and funny way to deal with a girl she suspected was spreading lies about her daughter, according to witnesses Thursday. Ashley Grills, who was testifying under a grant of immunity, said that Lori Drew was directly involved in creating the bogus MySpace profile of a 16-year-old boy that was used to lure Megan Meier, 13, into an online relationship.

A hoax caller claiming to be India's foreign minister threatened Pakistan's president with war during the final hours of the Mumbai attacks, prompting Islamabad to put its air force on its highest alert for nearly 24 hours, a news report said Saturday. Meanwhile, Indian authorities reported the first arrests since the end of last month's siege in India's commercial and entertainment capital, which killed more than 170 people.