Mo. Woman Charged with Cyberbullying Teen

(AP)  A Missouri woman has been charged with cyberbullying for allegedly posting photos and personal information of a teenage girl on the "Casual Encounters" section of Craigslist after an Internet argument.

Prosecutors said 40-year-old Elizabeth A. Thrasher posted the 17-year-old's picture, e-mail address and cell phone number on the Web site in a posting that suggested the girl was seeking a sexual encounter.

St. Charles County Lt. Craig McGuire said Tuesday that the victim is the daughter of Thrasher's ex-husband's girlfriend. The girl, who has not been named, received lewd messages and photographs from men she didn't know and contacted police.

Thrasher, of St. Peters, is the first person charged with felony cyberbullying under a law passed in Missouri after the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was the victim of an Internet hoax that drew international attention.

Thrasher was freed on $10,000 bond, but the judge prohibited her from having a computer or Internet access in her home. She did not have a listed number, and her attorney, Mike Kielty, did not immediately return a call.

Kielty told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the posting was a practical joke, and he called the state law poorly written.

Authorities said Thrasher and the 17-year-old's mother had been arguing, and there was some back-and-forth bickering on MySpace among all three. "Who started what is up for debate," said St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas.

McGuire said Thrasher then created the posting on Craigslist - whose "Casual Encounters" section warns that the pages may include adult content - that included the teen's picture, employer, e-mail address and cell phone number. She received calls, e-mails, text messages and pornographic photos to her cell phone, police said.

If convicted of felony harassment, Thrasher could face up to four years in state prison, or up to a year in county jail, and a $5,000 fine, Banas said.

Under the cyberbullying law that took effect last August, an offense can be charged as a felony if a victim is 17 or younger and the suspect 21 or older. Misdemeanor cases have been filed since then.

The law was spurred by the Megan Meier case, in which an adult neighbor, her daughter and a friend were linked to a MySpace page concocted to appear to be that of a teenage boy. "Josh" initially flirted with Megan but then made hurtful comments shortly before she hanged herself.

No state charges were filed, Banas has said, because the state lacked an applicable law at the time. A jury found the neighbor, Lori Drew, guilty of three federal misdemeanors, but a judge overturned the verdicts and said he would acquit her. His decision has not been finalized.

Megan's mother, Tina Meier, who campaigns against cyberbullying, said Missouri's updated law should be "used to the fullest extent."

"This is not a joke," Meier said. "There have been too many people who have taken their own lives, too many people and their families getting hurt by this."

[formrusmcsgt]

If convicted of felony harassment, Thrasher could face up to four years in state prison, or up to a year in county jail, and a $5,000 fine, Banas said.
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Maybe...if they give her the max...just maybe....she'll grow up.

[erasmus111]

by braniff77 August 18, 2009 2:25 PM EDT
How impossibly stupid could this woman be? She lives in the same state where the initial cyberbully event occured and which spurred a new law against this nonsense.


I guess she figured that if the other woman could get away with it, she could to.

[antoniof123]

There getting dumber by the minute.

[peguesplace]

...and I thought women were supposed to be empathetic nurturers, not vindictive harpies.. Hmmm! I guess I was wrong again..

[pvperson3]

Great "joke" if it puts the 40 year old in prison where she belongs.

[docpeter1953]

I would have hoped a 40-year-old woman wouldn't have been so petty as to try to "practical joke" like this, especially against a 17-year-old. What a moron.

[pw08-2009]

Don't worry,

Women don't have to explain their actions and I'm sure this bully will not be negatively affected. The laws only affect men.

[democracy1]

You obviously have some serious issues. Seek help!

[esmith512]

The article and events per-se refute your argument. She has already been charged with a felony (negative affect) and will have to explain her actions before a court. While there are laws which have openly violated the 14th Amendment over the years, and while men typically receive harsher sentences than women for the same offense due to clear and unreasonable cultural bias, she will be answering for her behaviors. (I'll admit in her current legal culture her being female will likely lighten her sentence, but that the victim was also female will likely strengthen it.) Also, as Elizabeth Trasher's behavior at age 40 seems to indicate, she has probably lived a life where she didn't have to justify/accept responsibility for her actions--she's probably surprised and angrily offended that she has been charged or obligated to any explanation, reparation, or as a civil adult must follow any Golden Rule principle.

[endurorob]

The d.u.m.b.a.s.s. lawyer says it was just practical joke. The 40 year old woman posted the 17 year old girls, photo, employer, e-mail address, and phone number. Sounds more like revenge to me.

[braniff77]

How impossibly stupid could this woman be? She lives in the same state where the initial cyberbully event occured and which spurred a new law against this nonsense.

[endurorob]

doesn't sound like any of them are vaery intelligent. Why would a woman allow her 17 year old daughter to get involved in her conflict with her boyfriends ex. Is this Jerry Springer?

[Livinontheedge]

This is something the law should stay out of and let the girls mother beat this woman so severely that it would make her not want to ever do this again. Just turn a blind eye while it happens.