A St. Charles County, Missouri woman has been charged with felony harassment against a minor after she allegedly posted a sexually suggestive ad on casual encounters section of Craigslist to humiliate a 17-year-old girl, who is the daughter of her ex-husband's girlfriend.  Elizabeth Thrasher, 40 of St. Peters, is the first adult charged under Missouri's Cyberharassment Law passed in June 2008.

The new cyberharassment law was enacted in Missouri and other states followed suit in response to the Megan Meier tragedy. Megan, also from St. Charles County, committed suicide after being bullied on the Internet by minor teens and an adult neighbor, Lori Drew.  Drew as charged with three misdemeanor counts of unauthorized access to computers for violating MySpace's terms of use.

While a jury convicted Drew in November 2008 on all counts, the federal judge in the case, George Wu, overruled and acquitted Lori Drew of all charges on July 2, 2009.

In the Thrasher case, she is accused of posting the girl's cell phone number, her email address and a photo of the 17-year-old she obtained from her MySpace page, indicated she was interested in a sexual encounter.

Almost immediately the minor began receiving offensive calls and emails, texts and pornographic photos from people she did not know.  She reported the activity to the St. Charles County Police, Lt. Craig McGuire said the current situation began during an online argument between Thrasher, the girl and her mother, again on MySpace, when the teen told Thrasher "to grow up."

If found guilty, Thrasher could receive a $5,000 fine, and up to four years in state prison, or up to a year in a county jail.  She has been released on $10,000 bond and is not allowed on the computer or Internet access from home.

What do you think? Why are adults harassing children online? Will Missouri's cyberharassment law stand up overtime? Or will additional legislation be needed to curb further harassement of youth? You can read Senate Bill 818.