Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A Missouri woman was found guilty of misdemeanor computer fraud for posing as a teenage boy on News Corp.’s MySpace Web site and acquitted of more serious charges she did so to harm a 13-year-old girl who later killed herself.

A federal jury in Los Angeles today found Lori Drew, 49, not guilty of felony charges of unauthorized computer access to inflict emotional distress on Megan Meier, a former friend of Drew’s daughter. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on one count of conspiracy. Drew could be sentenced to as long as one year in prison for each of three misdemeanor convictions.

“My client was puzzled by the verdict,” Drew’s lawyer, H. Dean Stewart, said at a press conference. “She feels deep sadness for the fact that Megan took her own life. She doesn’t feel vindicated.”

Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Drew in May under the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act after local authorities in Missouri failed to bring charges under state law. Stewart said in pretrial filings that it was the first time someone had been charged under the federal statute for violating a Web site’s terms of service.

Drew, with the help of her daughter and a family friend Ashley Grills, then 18, created a phony profile of a 16-year-old boy on the MySpace social-networking site, prosecutors said, to hurt and embarrass Meier. Meier hanged herself in her bedroom closet when, after about four weeks of online flirting, Grills, posing as the fictional boy, told her “the world would be a better place without you.”

Grills, who was given immunity from prosecution, testified against Drew at the trial.

Mother’s Hope

Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, said at a press conference following the verdict that she hoped Drew would be sentenced to the maximum three-year term.

“As a mom, I absolutely think she should be punished,” Meier said.

U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien said at the news conference that he was “comfortable” with the jury’s verdict. Prosecutors will determine later whether to seek a new trial on the conspiracy charge, O’Brien said.

U.S. District Judge George Wu, who presided over the case, said at a Nov. 24 hearing that he would consider Stewart’s request to dismiss all charges against Drew and would issue a ruling after the jury reached a verdict.

Stewart said today he won’t decide whether to appeal the conviction until the judge has ruled on that motion.

‘Potentially Dangerous’

Drew’s conviction for violating MySpace’s terms of service, under a U.S. law intended to prevent computer hacking, is “potentially dangerous,” said Matthew Levine, a former federal prosecutor. The case might lead to similar prosecutions against people who don’t follow a Web site’s terms of use, which can be arbitrary, he said in a phone interview.

“There’s a real concern,” said Levine, now with Fish & Richardson in New York. “The jury did find there’s a crime based on accessing a Web site and not following its terms of service.”

The case is U.S. v. Lori Drew, CR08-582, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 26, 2008 17:23 EST