St. Peters woman charged with felony harassment for fake Craigslist post
(Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.)
A St. Peters woman was charged today with felony harassment against a teenager for allegedly creating a fake, sexually suggestive Craigslist ad in an apparent attempt at retaliation.
Elizabeth A. Thrasher
Elizabeth A. Thrasher, 40, of the 1300 block of Farm Valley Drive, is accused of posting an ad to the website’s “Casual Encounters” section to humiliate the 17-year-old daughter of a woman her ex-husband was dating.
Prosecutors said this was the first felony charged in St. Charles County under a new harassment law written in response to the suicide death of an Dardenne Prairie, teenager.
St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said Thrasher and the teen’s mother had a “deteriorating relationship.” The teen sent a Myspace message to Thrasher, telling her to grow up. Thrasher then created a listing on Craigslist using the teen’s picture.
Thrasher also listed the girl’s place of employment, e-mail address and cell phone number, Sheriff’s Department investigators said. The language in the advertisement could have been construed as being sexual in nature, they said.
Sheriff’s Lt. Craig McGuire would not elaborate on the nature of the advertisement and referred questions to the county prosecutor’s office.
Mike Kielty, Thrasher’s attorney, said prosecutors might not be able to meet the burden of proof under the statute. He also said the statute itself was poorly written. “This is just crazy that somebody can get arrested and charged with a felony for some behavior that’s so innocuous,” he said.
Men called the girl and sent e-mails, text messages and pornography to her cell phone after Thrasher posted the listing, investigators said.
Banas said that, to his knowledge, this was the first time his office has filed a felony charge under a new harassment law passed after the death of teenager Megan Meier. The 13-year-old Dardenne Prairie girl committed suicide after receiving messages from a fake Myspace account. The cyber bullying case received national attention after Lori Drew, an adult neighbor of Megan’s was linked to the fake account.
Drew eventually was charged with four federal misdemeanors. A jury found her guilty of four, but a judge has said he will acquit her.
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Another 40+ woman arguing with a 17-year-old girl. (shaking my head).
She should have posted under her real name. I think ‘Thrasher’ is intimidating enough.
What is with St. Charles women and teenage girls?? Odd stuff.
ted,
I was just thinking the same thing.
Just let it go people. Why the need to always retaliate?
Mr. Kielty may wish to choose his words better:
Innocuous: (1) producing no injury; (2) not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility
Posting sexually oriented and personal information about a teenager on a “casual encounters” website isn’t what I’d call innocuous. Ms. Thrasher, you’ve been divorced for two and a half years. And YOU were the petitioner. Time to move on and leave your ex alone.
PS - If a man had done this, they would find a way to make him a sex offender, and they’d take away his kids. You can be sure that no such thing will happen to Ms. Thrasher, and that she’ll keep getting her $626 a month check from dad. Disgusting.
God please don’t let this case turn into another chapter of Lori Drew. Let’s throw this hillbilly in jail and throw away the key. It’s time for justice to take place and get these idiots off the street and the internet.
To Nick Kasoff: How do you know these things? I didn’t see how long she’s been divorced, that she was the petitioner in the divorce or how much child support Dad pays anywhere in this article.
This is the same lawyer that represented Michael Devlin.