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11-17-2007, 07:23 AM
|  | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
Posts: 27,925
| | Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Neighbors of a 13-year-old girl create a fake boy ("Josh"), befriend her, dump her; girl hangs self. Quote: |
The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.
| The adult (?!) portraying Josh then told the girl she was "mean" and that Josh wouldn't speak to her any more. 
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MJ
Cynicism is reality with maybe an alternate spelling. ~ Woody Allen |
11-17-2007, 07:38 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Nutmeg State
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Wow.  |
11-17-2007, 07:53 AM
|  | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 17,220
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
OMG... I'm sick. There is a girl at Beanie's school... she's beautiful and would give you the shirt off her back, but has similar issues, including severe ADHD. I have friends whose child "doesn't like her" and CONSTANTLY make comments about her to other parents, and allow their son to continue the "I hate her" comments. Last year, he said he wished he could kill her, and when his best friend went to a teacher, the dad got upset with the FRIEND.
I wonder if I should forward the article. |
11-17-2007, 08:21 AM
|  | Super Blonde | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: It's not heaven, it's Iowa
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Okay, there are so many things wrong with that story. Bottom line, a girl died because she was rejected. That's incredibly sad and tragic.
The woman who pretended to be a teenage boy is stupid, mean, and insensitive. Not to mention I'm not sure why she can't be charged with some kind of fraud, or even predatory offense. You pretend you're a 13 year old boy and hit on some 13 year old girl? Gee whiz, what does that sound like? DA's find ways to interpret and bend the law all the time...I'm not sure why they haven't tried that angle.
From reading the article, I'd lay some blame on Megan's parents as well, but I'm not articulating it well right now.
Pippa, who would you forward the article to?
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11-17-2007, 08:30 AM
| | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
Posts: 27,925
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Yeah, there's a bunch of problems there and many people bear some responsibility or at least should have used better judgement, including the girl's parents, but come on - what business does a child's mother have messing around with her daughter's friend or ex-friend or whatever? Even if the hoaxing parent didn't know the child she was messing with had mental problems, it is just SO grossly inappropriate that I can't begin to describe it.
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MJ
Cynicism is reality with maybe an alternate spelling. ~ Woody Allen |
11-17-2007, 11:13 AM
|  | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
Posts: 16,937
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Ok, explain to me what Megan's parents did wrong? I'm misreading the article, I think.
As for the neighbour, they would have to get a restraining order and a badass security guard 24/7. I just could not stand not to beat that mother to a bloody pulp. I sort of wish Megan's family would publish the other family's name- I wouldn't want them living in my neighbourhood, and I'll bet there are a lot of moms all over the country who'd feel the same way. Dear God, that poor family, and it makes me sick to think how crushed that poor little girl must have been. |
11-17-2007, 11:33 AM
|  | Premium Member | | Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Granite State
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
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11-17-2007, 12:27 PM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 17,220
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Oh, I'm assuming they'd have moved. The whole neighborhood has to know where they are. And yes... if it was me, the pool table would have been through the front window about 30 seconds before me.
I'm still stewing. |
11-17-2007, 12:55 PM
|  | Glamorous Hollywood Star! | | Join Date: May 2001 Location: Hollywood, California by way of Birmingham, Alabama
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
How tragic. And can you imagine what's happening to any other kids those arrested adolescents come into contact with?
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11-17-2007, 01:27 PM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Like their own children? |
11-17-2007, 03:40 PM
| | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Quote: |
The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
| That's what gave me a raised eyebrow about the parents - she was underage for MySpace but her parents knew it, and her mother knew her mentally-ill daughter was upset but left her home alone. Granted, Mom didn't see it coming, but it makes me wonder what else might have been going on. And you can see from my thread title who I think most of the blame belongs to, but from experience I know these things aren't black-and-white, one-party-only situations.
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Cynicism is reality with maybe an alternate spelling. ~ Woody Allen |
11-17-2007, 07:24 PM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 17,220
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
The problem is that many (probably most) parents have no idea what their kids are getting into online. They hear that all the friends have a MySpace account, therefore, THEY want a MySpace account and the parents give the go-ahead, figuring that the age thing is about as useful as the age thing on toys. |
11-18-2007, 11:07 AM
| | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
Posts: 16,937
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
I know that many kids have a MySpace account. Mine don't, but even if that girl did have one, having a MySpace account should not be a capital offense, which it was. That woman who did that ought to go to jail at the very least. And if I can fault Megan's parents for anything it's for not chasing that woman down and doing some serious hurtin' on her. I can't even imagine what could make another child behave that way, much less an adult.
Edited to add: and where is Children's Aid? The children of the woman who killed Megan ought to be taken and permanently placed in a safe home run by sane and responsible adults. |
11-18-2007, 01:59 PM
|  | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
I'm going to let my daughters have MySpace accounts. When they're 25.
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11-18-2007, 05:42 PM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: May 2001 Location: South of Bawlmer
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Amen, JP!
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11-20-2007, 03:28 PM
|  | Forum Code Administrator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: PA
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
MJ, I am not certain the mother knew the kid had to be 14. It may just be that the journalist inserted that fact right there, which makes it read like the mother knew.
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11-24-2007, 08:50 AM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
The deleted post had me curious... how the "mother" (and I use that term VERY loosely) who created the MySpace page was outed.
Cindy, I thought you'd be interested to know that not only did she NOT move out of the neighborhood, but she's called the Sheriff's Department several times for "harrassment."
As y'all know, anything that goes through public channels is accessible under FOIA. So her numerous complaints about people being mean to her (she actually called the Sheriffs when Megan's dad yelled "Who you going to kill today?") are all on record. With her name. And address. 
So no, instead of picking up her crap, putting her tail between her legs, and moving away, she stayed where she was, forgetting that often, when there aren't laws to prosecute you, the court of public opinion will often make up for it.
Oh, and the town has now passed a law that would allow prosecution of any other mouth-breathers who thought this was a good thing to emulate. |
11-24-2007, 10:32 AM
| | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
Posts: 16,937
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Ok, that is past chutzpah and well into 'someone ought to stand in front of her front window and sell rocks.' WTF is she thinking? I would make a bigass banner saying "Mrs. X is a useless waste of air and should become an organ donor ASAP' and drive around the neighbourhood on a regular basis. And if I were the sheriff, I would take a hell of a long time- like, days- to respond to any calls ffrom that house.
And why haven't they removed her kids from her home and terminated custody? This is obviously someone who ought never to be around children, ever. |
11-24-2007, 10:46 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Northeast Malibu
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| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
I read an article on this in our paper. The name of the woman who harassed the girl was printed. The parents of the dead girl have divorced over this and moved away. They are worried that someone will do some vigilantism on the harrassing woman and they will be blamed.
I wonder what argument started this whole downward spiral rolling anyway? |
11-24-2007, 10:54 AM
| | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
Posts: 16,937
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
Oh, that's just great. The innocent people have had to move.  |
11-24-2007, 11:05 AM
| | thread-killa | | Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 17,220
| | Re Adult neighbors make hoax Internet "friend," leads to girl's suicide | |
What caused the argument? Two teenaged girls had a falling out, and in this world of bubble-wrapping your children, the one mother chose to create a MySpace profile to see if Megan was saying anything about her daughter. And, apparently, to mess with her head.
You know, it breaks my heart when people are mean to my kids. Shoot... I have a kid who likes to take books out of the library on bugs, mummies, and bats, and regularly draws sarcohpagi in her notebooks. But if they don't learn to take some lumps from their peers, you are emotionally stunting them. Imagine how THIS woman's kids are going to turn out when Mommy not only defends them, but does it in such a sick and twisted way (by the way, these girls were apparently long-time friends, and the one mother DID know about the ADD and the depression and that the girl was being medicated for both).
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