Monroe, New York – Police have possibly thwarted a 15-yer-old boy’s plan to attack Monroe-Woodbury High School on the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine School shootings. Police arrested the teen on Monday after police executed a search warrant at his residence and found four bottles filled with gasoline, a torch, machete, black trench coat, three propane tanks, two computers, items that could be used as fuses and several other electronic devices. The teen had actively been seeking a military assault-type weapon that could “hold as many rounds as possible.” He admitted to his plan in a police interview, nonchalantly explaining what he intended to do. “He said that he had a lot of hatred toward a lot of the kids who attend that school,” a Monroe Police Department press release said. He stated he had been bullied by students and had been told that he resembled Columbine shooter Eric Harris. His parents were clueless of his motives, or the materials located in the garage.

In a statement released by the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District today, superintendent Joseph DiLorenzo indicated that students had come forward with information that may have averted the alleged plot. The teen is currently being evaluated in a psychiatric facility and has been charged as a juvenile, facing two felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Another April 20th rolls around, and another day of wondering what kid out there will use it as an excuse to kill some classmates. This story comes on the heels of Sue Klebold, mother of Dylan Klebold, publishing her essay in Oprah’s O Magazine – a very interesting and informative read, btw. Dave Cullen, the author of Columbine (a book we love around here and you should have read by now) commented on it earlier this month.

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Belleville, Illinois – Two of the students involved in the beating of a 17-year-old classmate while riding on a Belleville school bus will be charged with felonies for their part. The altercation was captured on video (watch it after the jump), and shows a 17-year-old get beat by two different students within moments of each other. The race issue was thrown around when the story first broke, as the victim is white and his attackers are black, but more information has come out since these reports and it doesn’t look like race was a motivating factor. Or if it was, there is no evidence to support it. More information and the video of the attack after the jump.

The 14 and 15-year-old shown punching on the kid were not only expelled from Belleville West High School for the rest of this year and all of next, they were also charged with felony counts of aggravated battery. If convicted, they will spend some time in a juvenile corrections facility. “This is an egregious act,” said Belleville Township High School District 201 school board member Kurt Schroeder. “We have to send a message to all students we will not tolerate it.”

The school board acted quickly and severely, letting the bus driver go (although the company that actually employs the driver states the driver did nothing wrong) and began suspending any student shown in the video who seemed to egg on the attack. Any student who stood up and did not sit down as the bus driver instructed, or laughed at the attack – suspended. But of course, the parents of these suspended students feel that this is unfair. The parent of one of the kids who was charged with beating the boy says the tape has “ruined” their family’s lives. That’s right, the tape. Not the contents on the tape.

During a school board meeting over this incident, I got a kick out of a comment made by Alicia Brown. She stated, “It was inhumane the way that child was treated. But those children need an education, whether they get it at Belleville West or somewhere. Education is power, knowledge is power. How are they going to learn how to become productive citizens if we don’t educate them on what a productive citizen acts like.”

My answer to that? Get the kids some reading material while they are in a juvenile corrections facility. They committed a crime and should be punished for it. Belleville High School is not responsible for teaching kids not to beat on someone who is not a threat and is not fighting back. That kind of shit is taught in the home. The fact that other kids did not take part in this and another steps in between an attacker and the victim is proof of that.

Since the video was released, and the media got hold of it, the bus driver has been let go for not stopping the bus and intervening. Other students have also came forward saying that this is not a rare occurrence for Number 117. A bus they say is overcrowded and rowdy. Students report fearing for their safety and revealing their own stories of being attacked by students.

Dunno what to think about this one in regards to the reverse-racism context. If you watch the above video (which includes the boy who broke up the second fight), as well as the comments made by other students in the source links, it doesn’t seem like that is the case. It looks like a case of bullying against a kid who is very passive. That’s not faulting the kid that got beat, but I remember my school days, and I know that bullies always take the path of least resistance. The fact that there are other white students who ride the bus who have not come forward with tales of being targeted for being white lends credence to this not being a black-and-white issue. That being said, I am curious as to how different this would have been handled had the races been reversed.

More video:

Source | Source

Give it some time, but by the end of the following video you will be treated to one of my favorite type of videos – the kind where some jackass gets his ass handed to him by the person they started a fight with. Honestly, I have no clue what these two boys are fighting about as it is hard to understand a thing they are saying. So if any of you wanna decipher it, feel free. All I can hear are some retarded girls and one dude saying he is only 15. Anyway check it out. The end result makes having to listen to the chicks worth the aggravation.

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ST PETERS, MISSOURI - Elizabeth Thrasher gets the embarrasing title of first person charged with felony harassment under Missouri’s “Megan’s Law” (not to be confused with the Megan Kanka law requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders).  The law was created after the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, a girl who was being bullied over the Internet by other teens and an adult and then committed suicide. A lot of you around here know that I am not a big fan of this law or what happened with Lori Drew, the adult who took on the wrath of the online community for her role, and here is one example why. 

Seems as if Thrasher was having some words with her ex-husband’s new girlfriend and her 17-year-old daughter. After some back-and-forth arguing on Myspace between Thrasher, the teen and the teen’s mother that ended with the teen telling Thrasher to “grow up“, Thrasher posted a picture of the 17-year-old girl in a provocative pose in the “Casual Encounters” of Craigslist. It included her photo, e-mail address and cellphone number. The teen began receiving lewd messages and photos from men and then notified police.

Because of this, Thrasher is the first person jailed and charged with felony harassment under Missouri’s Megan’s Law. Or to be more specific, cyber-harassment of a someone 17 or younger. Thrasher was freed on $10,000 bond, and has been barred from having a computer or Internet access at home. If she is convicted of this crime, which I am pretty sure she wont be, Thrasher could face up to four years in state prison, or up to a year in county jail, and a $5,000 fine.

While I do not agree with what Thrasher did, I am siding with her attorney, Michael Kielty, when he said the case was baseless.

“The facts are going to show there was not a crime here,” he said. “You look at the document. It doesn’t even show my client made contact with the alleged victim so I don’t know how they’re going to make the case...a very poorly crafted statute: it criminalizes behavior that but for the use of the internet and a computer wouldn’t be criminal, certainly not a felony,”

And I agree. Had this woman wrote down the girl’s name and number in a bathroom stall, something people do all the time, would we have even heard of this woman? Hell, I’m not even sure what she did fits the crime she was charged. The law she was charged under went into effect on August 28, 2008 and defines the crime of harassment to include knowingly intimidating or causing emotional distress anonymously or causing distress to a child via phone or electronically.  It  increases the penalty for harassment from a misdemeanor to a felony if it’s committed by an adult against someone 17 or younger, or if the criminal has previously been convicted of harassment. No doubt prosecutors can pigeon-hole Thrasher’s actions as breaking this cyber-law, but I think the judge in this case, like Lori Drew’s, will see things differently.

Now before I go on and some of you try to verbally lynch me by my short-hairs, let me stress that what Thrasher did was juvenile and in poor taste. I do not condone it. But that does not change the fact that Missouri’s “Megan’s Law” is  poorly constructed and just an all-around bad idea born from good intentions. Look, no doubt women like Thrasher probably need to grow up and are worthy of a good smack upside the head. Even on this site we have witnessed members who go a little too far with actions they cloak with “doing the right thing“. But cast aside your disdain for a woman who lets herself become involved with this kind of bullshit, do you really think this woman deserves a felony harrassment charge for this? It just doesn’t sit right with me for some reason.

But no matter the outcome, there is any lesson to be learned from this. If any you juvenile women out there are going to get back at the teen who was mean to your kid at school, or is the daughter of the woman your ex traded you for, do NOT do it with the computer. Take out a Want Ad in the local paper or some shit. Sure there is a chance you may get charged with something…but at least it wont be a felony.

Ok, now lynch me- but please sound off and give me your views on this case, and the Megan’s Law in general. I am curious if I am in the minority or not.

Source | Source

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Here at Dreamin’ Demon, we’ve been known to use some pretty harsh language when it comes to the business of exposing and shaming some of society’s more pathetic and depraved individuals. Some might even qualify the articles our authors compose as “intimidating,” or intending to “cause substantial emotional distress to a person.” Oh, if only we could know for sure that we were causing substantial emotional distress to the criminals featured on our front page… But I digress. In light of the notorious Megan Meier suicide, brought on by the harassment she received via MySpace at the hands of a group of catty chicks, Rep. Linda Sanchez of Los Angeles has introduced a bill that would make this practice illegal.

The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, or H.R. 1966, aims to fine and/or incarcerate for up to two years any individual who “transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior”. This legislation would apply to communication via blogs, websites, email, instant messaging, telephones, and text messages.

As is the case with most legislation, this bill is being introduced with the most noble of intentions. “Cyberbullying” is pretty prevalent among kids and teens and has been associated with depression and anxiety. Any of you who’ve encountered it know just how frustrating it can be. Often times, people being targeted have very little recourse and are forced to change profiles, e-mail addresses, or leave websites entirely. I can totally understand the interest in limiting this type of harassment, but this bill goes much further than that. It clearly states:

(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
(b) As used in this section —
(1) the term ‘communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and
(2) the term ‘electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones and text messages.

That’s a lot of shuttin’ up and a good bit of possible jailtime if you don’t. Sure, this legislation would apply to all those douchebags who have nothing better to do than to pick on some innocent kid via electronic communication. But who else is going to be caught in that snare? Surely, our site is one example. Might it apply to someone who creates a false profile to catch a lover cheating, or even heated political debates that involve some name-calling? I think the keyboard warrior who tries to coax you into settling online beef in real life is pretty ridiculous too, but I don’t think they deserve to charged with a federal offense for it.

Normally, I like to leave this section for showing both sides of an issue, and let the readers hash it out…but in this particular case – I just cannot. This bill is a crock of shit and I have a hard time believing this initiative will pass the scrutiny of the First Amendment, which guarantees us freedom of speech. I can only imagine that the 14 other congressional backers are just playing politics and pandering to the clueless who think that this is a good idea, knowing that there is no way in hell this turd will never get passed. But, just in case it does, we should probably start saving up for Morbid’s commissary now.

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Thomas Betty and Amy Wojciechowski

Port Orange, FL- The asshole pictured above with the smug look on his face is Thomas Betty. The ugly bitch next to him is his live-in girlfriend Amy Sue Wojciechowski. She has a 12-year old son who is afraid of bullies. Can you guess who is the biggest bully in this story?

When Amy Sue Wojciechowski’s 12-year old son went to school on March 9, 2009, he was teased and harassed, both at school and at the bus stop, by several other kids including  a 16-year old. These kids said they were going to beat him up and shoot him with a pellet gun. The threats frightened Wojciechowski’s son because the bullies knew he would be home alone after school. As a way of protection, the boy asked two of his friends to go home with him. The boy must have been scared because inviting guests over without permission is a big rule breaker in his mother’s household. When Wojciechowski found out her son had broken house rules, she told her son that her boyfriend, Thomas Betty, would punish him when he got back into town on Friday.

As promised, when Thomas Betty returned home that Friday, he walked into the house and began yelling at the boy. Betty then removed his belt, grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled him through the living room and hallway to his bedroom. Betty ordered the boy onto the bed and began beating him with his belt and fist all over his body for about 35 minutes. Betty left the room but told the boy, “I’m not through with you.” He returned 10 minutes later, and continued the beating.

On March 16, 2009, the Port Orange Police Department was notified by a Volusia County Public School, based on a report of possible child abuse regarding one of their students. With the assistance of the Department of Children & Families, the 12-year old boy was taken to a hospital and his injuries were documented. He was injured and bruised on nearly every part of his body: head, arms, legs, left shoulder, abdomen, and back. Hey, Asshole. I hope you get the same done to you very soon, except with heavy chains and steel-toed boots. Fuckwad!

Police showed Wojciechowski her son’s injuries and wrote in their report that she “showed no emotion when she was shown the injuries and could not offer an explanation as to why they were so extensive.”Wojciechowski told police she works nights, and slept during the day while her son was being punished in his room. She said she never went into his room to check on him. I call bullshit. How could you not hear the screams of your child while he’s being viciously beaten by your piece-of-shit penis! You are a cold-hearted cunt who does not deserve the title of “mother” and should have your uterus removed with the lid of a rusty sardine can! Fuck You, you fucking Bitch!

The next day, Thomas R. Betty, 54, and his girlfriend, Amy Sue Wojciechowski, 32, were taken into custody within an hour of warrants being issued for their arrest. Betty was charged with child abuse and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail with no bail allowed. He has a criminal record, including federal narcotics offenses, in both Colorado and Indiana, where the three last lived until moving to Port Orange a month ago. Wojciechowski was charged with child neglect and booked into the jail where she remains on $20,000 bail. The child remains in protective custody. I hope he never has to see these two worthless douche-bags again and has a much happier life from here on.

Thanks to Tazzz and Special2bme who have this in our forums.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Here is an interesting story going on in Illinois. Back in November, an 11-year-old boy was at a friends house when two other boys, ages 11 and 12, tied him up, stripped him and then sexually assaulted him. No details on what they did exactly, but the two boys were charged with criminal sexual assault and abuse . If those details alone aren’t fucked up enough, the three boys all attend Gregory Middle School and the two boys who were charged are still being allowed to attend.

No disciplinary action has been taken against the two boys in regards to the school, and aside from them being in separate classrooms from their victim, nothing else has been done. In fact, nothing else can be done, as there is no policy that allows the school to do a thing. The parents of the victim are not just sitting on their hands and have publicly expressed their outrage, most recently at school board meeting in Aurora. “Our son has shown extreme courage in coming forward to tell us, the school and the police of these incidents,” the victim’s father said. “Think of the courage he has to muster every single day to face his attackers on the bus stop, in the halls, in the cafeteria, in the common areas. We should show similar courage.“ 

They were joined with more than a hundred other concerned parents. Parents who want to know how come two kids charged with a sexual assault are being allowed to continue attending school with the victim with no disciplinary actions taken. “We need to demonstrate to all students that we, as a community, have zero tolerance for aggressive, violent behavior against students or staff,” the victim’s mother said. 

And therein lies the main issue with all of this. There are no guidelines for the school board to follow in this case. They have no victims’ rights policies or a policy that allows for school discipline in off-school matters. “It may be that, at some point, we would have a nexus to deal with this case in terms of school discipline,” said District 204 Attorney Jack Canna. “Right now I don’t see it. It would be, I think, a difficult situation for the school district to engage in some discipline knowing what the law tells us we can and can’t do.“  And he is right. If there is no current policy for this type of situation and they were to discipline the two kids that have been charged, you and I both know that they would have a fat, juicy lawsuit shoved down their throats.

One member of the board did announce that they had drafted a victims’ rights policy and tried to read it at the meeting, but the school board president stopped them, saying they need to discuss it privately first. They would then openly discuss the policy at another meeting in a couple of weeks. I know the president is just doing his job, but when I read that, the first thing that popped into my head was Mayor Larry Vaughn and his anchor suit from JAWS. 

Anyway, I feel for the parents and I wholeheartedly believe the two boys who have been charged have no place in this school. I feel that any student charged with certain crimes, especially sexual assault, should be immediately expelled. I also understand that, if there is no policy for the school to follow (and, trust me, from experience) schools absolutely will not do shit unless they are explicitly told to in some sort of fucking handbook, that their hands are somewhat tied…even if they got that way from being ill-prepared for this type of situation.

Parents should expect their kids to go to school and not be sitting beside an accused sex offender, but the school cannot do anything without fear of getting into legal issues themselves. So what do you think should be done?

Source

Muncie, IN - Sherri Feuston’s son is nine years old.  On Tuesday, the little boy went to school with the word “BITCH” scratched in crayon on his forehead.   Turns out, his mother did it.  Feuston, 30, sat on her child’s chest and applied enough pressure to the crayon that the marks were still visible later in the day, when investigators interviewed the child.

When she was questioned, Feuston allowed as how, yeah, she’d sat on her kid and written “BITCH” on his forehead and sent him to school that way, but hey, it was just a joke.  And her boyfriend helped hold the kid’s feet while she did it, but that was also a joke. And she did it in full view of her two daughters, ages 11 and 2, but that was a joke too.

Other jokes Sherri Feuston has played on her son include snapping him in the eye with a wet towel and beating him with a belt.  That Sherri has quite the sense of humor.  Her boyfriend, who is the babydaddy of the two-year-old, denied being involved.  His case is still being investigated, and no charges have yet been filed against him.

Just as an aside, what the HELL is up with parents torturing their kids this time of year?  Is the holiday stress really that bad that you need to destroy a little piece of your kid in order to feel better?  I can hardly imagine the humiliation that little boy went through, having to go into school with that on his forehead.  I’d just bet that the child’s teacher thought she was gonna have to put the hurt on a schoolyard bully – only to find out that the bully was her student’s mother.

This is the kind of emotional scar that will last way, way longer than a few crayon marks and red welts.  I hope, for this boy’s sake, that he is taken away from that bitch of a mother permanently.  And I hope Sherri Feuston gets “BITCH” written on her forehead in prison.

Feuston was arrested Wednesday and charged with neglect of a dependent, battery and criminal confinement. She is being held at the Delaware County Jail on a $20,000 bond.  Her children have been placed with her parents while the case is resolved.

Jaded’s got a few things to write on Sherri’s forehead in our forums.

Lashonda Riggsbee and Roberto Demming

Homestead, FL – Meet Roberto Demming.   Demming, 34, had at least two girlfriends and at least two children.  But he wasn’t very nice to any of them, it seems.   On October 1st, Demming and girlfriend number 1, Lashonda Riggsbee, 34, were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse when their 10-year-old daughter was found sleeping on the floor of their locked garage.

The arrest affadavit states that officers found the girl “sitting on the ground in the fetal position in front of a vehicle . . . There was a training toilet located next to the victim that was full of urine.”   Her body was covered with scars. The garage had no air conditioning or windows.   The girl said in a later interview that “she was frequently locked away without food, drink, pillows, toys, light or any company in the garage as punishment, and that she was very scared at night alone in the garage and would ask to come inside, but was not allowed to do so.”

Are you angry yet?   Me, too.  But wait, there’s so much more to this story!!

Apparently, Ms. Riggsbee was not Mr. Demming’s only girlfriend.  In fact, she wasn’t the only girlfriend living in that house!   You with me??   Roberto Demming’s other girlfriend was Shirley Hill, and apparently, Mr. Demming wasn’t very nice to girlfriend number 2.   Shirley Hill is lucky enough to have a sister who had the presence of mind to call the police on September 29th to report the situation.  That got the ball rolling.  (Sending out a big Dreamin’ Demon salute to that woman, whose name has not been published.)

When police arrived at the home, Demming initially refused to let officers in.  When he finally did, they found Ms. Hill in hysterics, badly beaten, with ankles swollen to 10-12″ in diameter.

”My child doesn’t have a childhood. He doesn’t allow us to go places,” Hill cried.

She told police that she was beaten daily with a wooden stick or belt.  Demming expected her to turn up Real Estate leads for his business, and if she fell asleep or failed to find leads, he’d beat her.  Other punishments included making her stand for up to 20 hours at a time, choking her, and threatening her with weapons from an arsenal that included an AK-47 machine gun.

Some boyfriend, huh?

He didn’t want her to get close to their 3-year-old daughter, for fear that she’d “turn her against him,” so he tried his best to keep them apart.  In fact, he often had girlfriend number 1, Riggsbee, care for their child in order to keep Ms. Hill away from her.   Ms. Hill states that she was often not allowed to give her child adequate food, bathe her, or change her diaper.

Unfortunately, the little peanut suffers from an enzyme deficiency disorder known as maple syrup urine disease and is developmentally delayed, so she really needs regular medical care.  Do you think Mr. Demming allowed that?  No, sir!   In fact, when the little girl recently began losing weight and behaving “oddly,” he not only refused to allow her to see a doctor, he separated her from her mother completely.

Incidentally — and not surprisingly — this isn’t the first time Mr. Demming has treated his “loved ones” like crap.  Another Miami-Dade woman, also the mother of one of his children, was granted a permanent restraining order against him in 1997.   I can hear your exclamations of shock from here, Demons, but yes, it’s true:  he’s done it before.

Roberto Demming is being held without bail and his charges include kidnapping, aggravated child abuse, attempted murder, and child neglect.   Here’s hoping Ms. Hill and the children find a way back to normalcy, and that Mr. Demming and Ms Riggsbee spend many a long year in a very small cell thinking about ways they could have been nicer.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – I base this on the fact that she helped her teen daughter in harassing a 15-year-old girl who Phillip’s daughter had an altercation with the year before. Julie Phillips, 50, came up with an idea to buy disposable diapers, write vulgar slogans on them and then, with the help of her daughter and a friend of her daughter, place them in the yard of the home where the 15-year-old lived with her family. The girl was so distraught by the messages, and the act itself, that she attempted suicide.

Attorney Betsy Greene has filed a lawsuit against Phillips on behalf of the family that was targeted. Philip’s has stated that she is sorry and her attorney, The attorney, Geoffrey Grodner stated, “She’s devastated. In retrospect she wishes she hadn’t done it. I don’t know if there is an acceptable explanation to the victim’s family as to why this all happened.”

The other family doesn’t give a shit. The victim is now filing a civil suit against Phillips to cover all medical expenses and the 15-year-old’s mother filed two protective orders against Phillips this week. Phillips now faces criminal misdemeanor charges of harassment and trespass.

This smacks of the Lori Drew case, but personally I feel the scenarios are vastly different. But I would love to know a couple things. First, what kind of messages were on those diapers? Whatever they were, they were pretty effective to cause a girl to want to kill herself. Maybe they were spells. Also, my 12-year-old knows that this is a bad idea…so what in the hell was going through this woman’s head? She has made it to 50 so you would think that completely dumbass decisions like this are not something she practices on a daily basis, right?

And he is headed to a juvenile detention center because of his involvement with the death of fellow classmate, Dakota DeRemus (pictured). A classmate that is alleged Howard had been bullying for some time.

GARDNER, Kan. – Dakota DeRemus, 16, was found lying dead near a play area behind some apartments. An autopsy showed that DeRemus had a heart condition and that he had been involved in a fight. Gardner was later arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter. Johnson County district attorney’s office is seeking to have Howard tried as an adult. Howard was ordered held in juvenile detention after a court hearing Wednesday. At the end of the hearing, DeRemus’ father yelled at Howard’s parents while being detained by police.

“Two years! Two years your son has been bullying my son.”

School officials admitted that they were aware of the DeRemus’ family’s complaints about bullying but also stated that the DeRemus family had asked that no other information be released and so they could not comment any further. However, DeRemus’ mother released a statement in which she states her son was beaten to death by people who bully others, and also talks about the school the students attended, and the numerous complaints and warnings they had filed in regards to Howard’s bullying of their son.

Howard’s next court appearance was scheduled for Feb. 19.

Now this family has to suffer through the loss of a child, they will also have to live with the frustration of knowing they tried everything legal to stop the actions that ultimately contributed to his death.

DeRemus’ family issued the following statement:

My family and I are in so much pain that just cant be described by the tragic and early loss of our Dakota. Our Dakota was only 16 years old.

He was the most loving and caring son a mother could ever imagine. This holds true as a brother, a grandson, nephew, and as a friend. As a single parent that has struggled, Dakota was my inspiration. He gave me hope and together we had envisioned a future for him.

Our Dakota had so much to live for and he was looking forward to many of the things that 16 year olds do: going to a dance with a girl; riding bikes with his friends; learning to drive; and going to the movies. He had such ambition to make a difference in this world by going to college and then attending law school.

I feel very blessed that as a family, we had the opportunity to spend our holiday break together with Dakota on vacation and our memories will forever be filled with Koty decorating the tree; being on the beach; and sitting down and laughing with his family during our Christmas Dinner.

However, for me, those memories will forever be shadowed by the dark cloud of my son being beaten to death by those that choose to bully an innocent teenager. Murder is the only way we can describe this incident with the facts that we are aware of. The fact that a group of four bullies joined together and apparently decided to videotape his beating and death, demonstrates to me that they knew that they were going to kill him.

Furthermore, their apparent actions of running away after he fell to the ground without calling for any help further shows not only their character, but their intentions all along. By lessoning the charges, this serves as no warning to any future person that decides to bully another.

My family and I are at a loss of words for the repeated warnings to the parents and The Gardner-Edgerton High School. They had been placed on notice many times by Dakota and myself. We would kindly as that the superintendent of the Gardner School District investigate this situation to ensure that no other child or family goes through what we are experiencing.

I continue to see everyone commenting on Dakotas heart condition and I am concerned that individuals are using this for their own personal agendas such as keeping their client out of jail. Instead, what really should be focused on is the manner in which these cowards treated my son, especially if they did indeed videotape his beating and/or his death.

I would also like to thank friends, family, neighbors and the community for the out-pouring of love and support. It has meant so much to us. We are also very grateful for all of the efforts of the Gardner Police Department and Johnson County Sherriffs Office for the handling of Dakotas murder investigation in such a professional and compassionate manner. We hope that immediate charges will be filed against all individuals involved in this case.

UPDATE 5/15/08 – A federal grand jury indicted Lori Drew today in connection with the suicide of Megan Meier. If she is convicted of all charges, Lori Drew could get up to 20 years in prison. Details at the bottom of this article. – imp

You are probably gonna hear more about this incident, as it seems to have everything the media loves. Death, Myspace and teenagers.

In a nutshell, a cute guy named Josh Evans had taken an interest in 13-year-old Megan Meier and contacted her via her Myspace page. Megan was a girl who had battled depression and struggled with her weight for the majority of her life. But after striking a friendship with Josh, a relationship that Megan’s mother was aware of and approved of, her disposition had changed. She was happy, more confident, was losing weight and excited about having her braces removed and her approaching birthday.

Then, Josh started posting mean things about Megan and making them public for everyone to see. One of the last messages, allegedly, was that the world would be a better place without her and that everyone hated her. On the day of that message, Megan went to her room and hung herself, three weeks before her birthday. While that is a story in itself, it actually gets a bit worse.

Six weeks after her death, the parents of Megan were notified that Josh was not even a real person. He was a fabrication created by a neighbor down the block, an adult woman whose own daughter had once been Megan’s friend. This woman knew of Megan’s depression, and was friends with the family. The woman has stated that she created the account to check to see what Megan was saying, if anything, about her daughter. The woman, her daughter and an 18-year-old monitored the Josh Evans account.

You can read the all the details, even though they are from one side of the story, here:

ttp://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.ii1.txt

I am curious as to what our readers think. Should the adult who created the fake account share in any of the blame? Or should on-line bullying remain a crime that goes unpunished?

Update – 12-03-2007

No criminal charges will be filed. St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced at a news conference that there wasn’t enough evidence to press criminal charges in connection with the death of Megan Meier, 13.

Feel free to comment on this article, or discuss the topic in the forums.

UPDATE 5/15/08 – A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted Lori Drew today in connection with Megan Meier’s suicide. Drew has been charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization in order to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. If Drew is convicted of all charges, she could face up to twenty years in prison.