"Her enemies nicknamed her "Pork and Beans". Eggs and thumbtacks were thrown at her car in August, police say. A week later, the 16-year-old St Peters, Missouri girl found a can of beans dumped on the car's roof.
Text messages, spurred by jealousy over a boy, soon filled the girl's mobile phone. Then came vulgar voice mails; one caller even threatening rape.
As a result, prosecutors used a new cyber harassment law to charge a 21-year-old St Charles woman.
Nicole A Williams is charged with misdemeanour harassment. She is accused of sending harassing text messages to the girl and letting friends use her mobile phone to leave threatening voice messages.
Her case is one of at least seven involving adults in the St Louis area filed since Missouri's new cyberbullying law took effect August 28.
Williams' is the first harassment case involving text messaging filed in St Charles County under the new law.
Eighteen states now have laws targeting internet harassment and cyberstalking, according to the national conference of state legislatures. In the fallout of the cyberbullying case of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, teenager Megan Meier, legal experts say the long-term impact of such laws is just beginning to take shape.
Illinois lawmakers passed a similar law this year, but it doesn't take effect until January 1. The law includes prohibiting a website with third-party access that contains "harassing statements made for the purpose of alarming, tormenting or terrorizing a specific person".
Missouri's updated harassment law covers threats or communication that causes emotional distress, including electronic messaging on computers, text messaging and email. Charges can be filed as misdemeanours or felonies.
Williams' lawyer, Michael Kielty, said she shouldn't be punished for what others may have said or written using her mobile phone.
Missouri's cyberbullying law, Kielty says, is poorly defined and was passed hastily in response to the case of Meier, 13, who hanged herself in October 2006 after receiving hurtful messages over the social networking website MySpace.com.
"It's a knee-jerk reaction to a high-profile case that was blown out of proportion," Kielty said.
Last month, a Los Angeles jury found Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri, guilty of three misdemeanour counts of accessing a computer without authorisation for her role in the creation of a fake MySpace account.
Drew faces up to three years in prison and a $300,000 fine.
Prosecutors in California, where MySpace is headquartered, charged Drew under the Computer Use and Fraud Act, which has typically been used in computer hacking cases. St Louis area authorities said there were no applicable laws at the time to charge her.
Some experts say that even though cyberbullying laws establish a framework for punishing those who use the internet to harass others, those laws probably do little to deter such behaviour.
Others say it will take a combination of the law, parent involvement and raising awareness to curb cyberbullying.
Parry Aftab, a lawyer and executive director of WiredSafety.org, which Megan's mother, Tina Meier, has joined to raise awareness of cyberbullying, says Drew's conviction will have a dramatic effect on cyberstalking cases nationwide.
"Because of Megan's case, people are paying attention," Aftab said. "The laws will make a difference once people understand that there are laws and once prosecutors start using them. We need to teach [people] that what you do online matters as much as what you do in real life, because the internet is real life now."
Latul se strange, legile devin mai dure, ca urmare a sinuciderilor cauzate de bullying.
E bine asa. Ani de inchisoare si sute de mii de dolari amenda... arestare imediata... da, incepe sa sune bine.
