I know what this woman did was terrible, but I wonder how it qualifies as a crime, federal or not. There are tons of spiteful comments which are continuously spewed through the Internet, so I’m not sure why her case is special.
I think that the best approachds for the case would be a civil suit against the perpetrator for harassment and the like.
Deval Patrick is a treasure isn't he! /sarc!
This went beyond “spiteful comments”. This was an adult who was personally acquainted with the minor target of her scheme, and knew the girl to be an insecure adolescent who’d never had any boyfriends in real life, and tailored the scheme to take advantage of this. The scheme was quite elaborate and went on for quite a long time. The woman also concealed her connection to the girl’s suicide for quite some time after she learned it happened (and actually never confessed until somebody with knowledge of her actions told police), and then she told some lies to investigators after the fact, trying to pin some of her own actions onto another minor.
Because she demonstrated malice aforethought and went to great lengths to ensure that her subterfuge would be undetected and would have maximum effect on her intended victim.
Because she is a waste of skin, basically.