The Wild World Web can be an ugly place, its commentators and trolls emboldened by anonymity, and inevitably some cross the line into the ridiculous, the sinister and even the threatening.
Idle miscreants, estranged spouses and upset teenage classmates have taken to fabricating social media pages by pretending to be the very people they're targeting. Their goal may be to ruin reputations, play a practical joke or steal identities.Whatever their reasons, lawbreakers could be in for a jolt now that prosecutors are pursuing cases under a 2011 Texas law that makes such behavior subject to serious prison time.A review by the Star-Telegram shows that few district attorneys have used the law. The cases that have gone forward typically stem from nasty personal feuds that target women.A female doctor, for instance, was described as a prostitute on a dating site. An 18-year-old woman is accused of offering sexual favors to people if they would harass a former friend.In Granbury, two middle school girls, ages 12 and 13, were charged with third-degree felonies in Hood County after being accused of creating a Facebook page of a 12-year-old classmate using her name and a picture of someone resembling her.Posts on the page contained profanity and threats to other students, authorities said.Thanks to broadband, scandalous claims travel even faster than gossip.But such activity can also be tragic. Victims of online impersonation, one a 13-year-old girl, have taken their own lives in the fallout of online humiliation.The Texas Legislature updated an existing law to focus on online impersonation. It prohibits using someone else's persona to "harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten any person" on websites.A charge can result in a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.Attorneys and prosecutors have strong but divergent opinions on the law's usefulness and consequences. Many prosecutors see it as a powerful tool for cracking down on vindictive criminals. Defense attorneys are concerned that the law is far too broad and can make lampooning or goading someone a serious crime.Critics say what might be just a childish prank is now illegal.The Granbury students' case caught the attention of Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who has worked as a legal analyst for CBS and NBC. He wrote on his blog that such a case would "normally result in a serious sit down with school officials and parents for the students."He called the case an example of the "over-criminalization of our society [that] has taken misconduct that was once a matter of private or school discipline and converted it into felonies."Turley argued that some cases seem more appropriate for civil rather than criminal courts. In many cases, people appear to have been defamed by fraudulent social media sites but not threatened or defrauded, defense attorneys say.Hood County Attorney Kelton Conner, who is overseeing the Granbury case, said identity theft has become "the killer" in recent years.The Granbury case is "like bullying," he said. "And as far as its felony nature, the lawmakers have seen fit to make it a felony case."He said juvenile proceedings won't result in a trip to the penitentiary. But he said parents need to take charge."Parents are having to learn stuff they didn't have when they were growing up. It's a whole new ballgame," he said.A 'great weapon'Prosecutors contend that the old law wasn't keeping up with technology.In one instance, a man involved in a child support case was accused of hacking into his ex-girlfriend's e-mail account, posing as her and sending several messages to a law firm representing her. The bogus e-mails asked to dismiss the suit.The man also accessed her Facebook account, found "indiscreet" photos of her and sent those to the law firm, said Layne Thompson, an assistant district attorney in Angelina County."That was really stupid," Thompson said. "The law firm [would have to] question the reliability of the e-mails. What a moron."That case, however, arose before the law changed. Thompson could have used an existing harassment law but instead prosecuted the case as fraudulent use of identifying information because it carried a felony punishment.After he reviewed the new online-impersonation statute, Thompson said he considers it a "great weapon.""This is much more likely to be grasped by a jury as, 'Yeah, the bad guy did that,'" he said. He noted that the law still gives prosecutors a fallback to a misdemeanor harassment charge if a case is weak.Others argue that people are being prosecuted for what amounts to a joke gone too far.In Harris County, prosecutors accused Carl Wayne McGraw Jr., 30, of Humble of creating fake online profiles describing former romantic interests.On July 16, McGraw was handed two charges of felony online impersonation. He is accused of creating a personal dating profile for one woman on a social media site in a "direct and flagrant attempt to harass and threaten" her, police records say.McGraw is accused of describing her on the site as a "porn star and doctor ... [who is a] very sexual person," according to police.Authorities said McGraw added her website and home and work addresses to the posting.In a separate charge, McGraw is accused of signing up a woman he used to date for the prisoner website cellpals.com. The woman received several letters from inmates.McGraw's attorney, Fred Dahr of Houston, said such behavior should be construed as an immature hoax, not a felony."I don't think my case should be in a felony court with rapes, robberies and murder," he said. "The statute is designed to prevent fraud and threats, not pranks."Law too broad?Dahr also said the law requires harm to have occurred. He said the women received no threats of violence and suffered no financial loss."I think the problem is that it's a new law and it's there to address a real problem," he said. "The problem is that it's so young, nobody has much experience with it. The law as written is too broad."However, the law still includes provisions for a Class A misdemeanor, which can result in up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.In Kyle, for instance, Amber Harvey, 18, was accused July 12 of misdemeanor online impersonation. Harvey had a falling-out with a friend, said Kyle Police Detective Pedro Carrasco Jr. Under the updated law, sending a text message, e-mail, instant message or similar communication that refers to a name, Web address or phone number of another person can be a misdemeanor offense.Harvey is accused of going on a website and making posts "talking bad about the victim and then basically [writing] here's her phone number and address, name, Facebook site," Carrasco said. "Then [Harvey] said, 'Anybody who is willing to call, harass her, make her cry, I'll do anything you want.' She offered up sexual favors for anybody."The ordeal lasted a couple of hours, enough time for the victim to receive several text messages from people.There weren't "any threats made via those text messages, just some harsh words," Carrasco said.Kameron Johnson, a public defender for juveniles in Travis County, is concerned that the consequences of the revised law could be life-altering."I think it's severe, considering the offense," he said. "I'm not saying it's a good thing to make up a fake Facebook page."But he believes that some prosecutors have the view that they should "go for the tougher penalties.""They look at this statute as something that has more teeth in it," he said.Johnson said he considered the impact of the law as it was first written in 2009. When it was updated, he said, it may have been in response to incidents including a harassed teen who took her own life.Doing the right thingOne such case drew national headlines and shows what's at stake when enmity goes too far.Megan Meier, 13, thought she'd begun a friendship with a 16-year-old boy. In reality, the boy was the creation of a woman whose daughter had been Megan's friend.When Megan received a message that the boy didn't want to be friends with her, she was distraught. Then, on Megan's Myspace page, comments were posted calling her "slut and whore.""Those were the nicest things that were written," said Nicole Collins, program manager of the Megan Meier Foundation in Missouri.Megan's mother told her to get off the computer, then had to leave home for a medical appointment.Megan went upstairs and hanged herself. The mother who created the fake boy was tried in another state but eventually cleared.Megan's family helped get an Internet harassment law passed in Missouri, Collins said, but it was overturned by the state Supreme Court.Collins said Texas is doing the right thing."I'm really glad that Texas is doing that," she said. "It's phenomenal."Darren Barbee, 817-390-7126Twitter: @DarrenBarbeeHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
