Megan Meier's Tormentor: Knowledge is Power

In this case, power to protect.

At least, I hope so.

A very quick review of Megan Meier's death, and the online predator who drove her to suicide:

• Last year Megan Meier, a young teenage girl with somewhat above-average levels of teen angst, was driven to suicide by Lori Drew.
  • Lori Drew's daughter was an on again, off again, friend of Megan
  • Megan and Drew's daughter had a falling out
  • Ms. Drew decided to set up an fake MySpace account - she says to find out what mean things Megan was saying about her daughter
  • The fake MySpace account was set up with the help of two teenagers, one an employee of Ms. Drew.
  • Ms. Drew set up a fictional teenage boy, and manipulated Megan until the teen accepted "Josh" as her boyfriend
  • Then, Lori Drew had "Josh" turn on Megan, attacking the fragile teen's character, and finally rejecting her.
  • Then Megan Meier killed herself
  • One of Lori Drew's accomplices, a teenage employee of Ms. Drew, is getting psychiatric treatment now.
• This month, Lori Drew got good news: she won't face charges, because she used the Internet to torment Megan Meier.
• The American legal system is ponderously adjusting to Information Age technologies.
• Quite a number of people are saying mean things about Lori Drew on the Web.
• A particularly vile blog, called "Megan Had It Coming," attracted a great deal of attention when its author claimed to be Lori Drew.
• Lori Drew claims to not be the blogger who runs "Megan Had It Coming."
• Ironically, if "Megan Had It Coming" is written by someone impersonating Lori Drew, Ms. Drew may be protected by laws which her foul actions inspired.

At this time, there seem to be extremely limited protections for people who are vulnerable to online predators.

I'm not using the usual "allegedly" disclaimer in this post, since there seems little to no doubt that Lori Drew drove a vulnerable girl to suicide, and scarred the mind of a teenager who had the misfortune to have her as a boss.

I've compared the Internet to the American West of the mid-to-late 19th century. In both cases, we have a great many people moving into a new territory, developing a new society, dealing with new technologies, with negligible law enforcement.

It's an exciting, and potentially rewarding, place to be. It's also dangerous at times. Particularly to people who have chinks in their psychological armor.

I think it is unlikely that the American judicial system will effectively protect the innocent online any time soon. For this reason, I believe that it is reasonable to share some publicly-available information, and a concern.

The people in Dardenne Prairie, MO, where Megan Meier lived, and the Drews own a house, are probably well aware of the Curt D. and Lori J. Drew household. Dardenne Prairie is a suburb of St. Louis with a population a little under 5,000. That's about how many people live here in Sauk Centre. In places this size, people stay informed: particularly about dangerous neighbors.

However, I'm not so sure about the people in O'Fallon, where Mr. Drew works, and Ms. Drew has an advertising business. O'Fallon has about ten times as many people as Megan Meier's home town, and so provides some of the anonymity of larger cities.

Both towns are part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.

I'm not entirely comfortable about identifying the company that employs Curt D. Drew. For one thing, Mr. Drew seems to have known about, but not participated in, the hoax that killed Megan Meier and drove one of Lori Drew's employees insane. For another, Mr. Drew's employer has nothing to do with the death of Megan Meier.

Lori Drew's advertising business, Drew Advantage, is another matter. Ms. Drew's use of one of her employees in the online stalking of Megan shows that she is quiet capable of using her company, and her employees, for immoral, if legal, purposes - like driving a teenager to suicide. And driving another insane.

Lori Drew may strike again.

Anyone considering doing business with her advertising company, Drew Associates, might consider what might happen if Lori Drew felt that she had not gotten what she wanted.

And, although it's hard to be picky when looking for a job, I would hope that anyone considering employment with Drew Associates think very carefully about what services Ms. Drew might demand.

Lori Drew's company is:

Drew Advantage
2977 Hwy K, Ste 200
O'Fallon, MO 63368
[Blogger's Note, December 6, 2007: I learned that

1. The company name is Drew Ad Vantage
2. According the "Star Tribune" of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, Ms. Drew's "home-based advertising business" has closed
3. Business directories give at least two addresses for Drew Ad Vantage

(Relatively frequent changes of address in start-up businesses is hardly unusual. I found an alternate address at Merchant Circle) I am assuming that the "Star Tribune's" assertion that Ad Advantage closed, due to a lack of clients, is true.]

I want to stress that I do not suggest or advocate that any illegal or immoral action be taken against Ms. Drew or her family.

On the other hand, there's a remote chance that someone who is about to get involved with this person will read this, and re-consider the wisdom of associating with someone with such apparently flexible ethics.

My thanks to this post, "Why Outing Lori Drew Was The Right Thing To Do," for discussing a rationale for providing information about Ms. Drew.

Posts, including this one, about the online predation of Megan Meier:
"Megan Meier's Tormentor: Knowledge is Power"
(December 6, 2007)
"Megan Meier's Online Predator Has New Problems"
(December 6, 2007)
" 'Murder?' Not Legally, but Megan's Still Dead"
(December 4, 2007)
"Ersatz Boyfriend Kills With MySpace"
(November 13, 2007)