Woman to be sentenced in cyber-bully case

LOS ANGELES, May 18 (UPI) -- A Dardenne Prairie, Mo., woman faced sentencing Monday for the cyber-bullying of a teenager who killed herself, federal prosecutors said.

Lori Drew was convicted in November on three misdemeanor counts of illegally accessing protected MySpace computers in California in 2006, the St. Louis (Mo.) Post-Dispatch reported. Jurors in the California federal trial deadlocked on a felony conspiracy count.

Through MySpace, a social networking service, Drew helped her daughter create a fictional teenage boy named Josh, who corresponded with 13-year-old Megan Meier, prosecutors said.

Witnesses testified Drew intended to use Megan's e-mails with Josh to gain personal information from Megan and humiliate her in retribution for her allegedly spreading gossip about Drew's daughter. Megan hanged herself at home after "Josh's" originally friendly e-mails turned hostile, prosecutors said.

A pre-sentencing report recommended Drew be sentenced to probation and a $5,000 fine.