Facebook Mom Denise New Faces Slander Accusation From Son

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — A 16-year-old Arkansas boy is claiming in a criminal complaint that his mother slandered him on his Facebook page.

Denise New of Arkadelphia is charged with harassment and her son – whose name has not been released – is asking that his mother be prohibited from contacting him.

Authorities say the boy lives with his grandmother, who has custodial rights.

Denise New says she believes she has the legal right to monitor her son's activities online and that plans to fight the charges.

Prosecutor Todd Turner declined to comment, citing the boy's age.

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Information from: KATV-TV.

(This version CORRECTS to son filing a complaint, but is not suing his mother.)

Comments

[sherifffruitfly]

03:38 AM on 04/08/2010

Fail fb whiner is fail.

[L3p3rm3ss14h]

06:17 AM on 04/08/2010

lulz

[ecotopian]

07:55 PM on 04/07/2010

A couple of points not in this version of the article. He was logged onto his mother's computer, not his, and he forgot to log off. The kid moved in with his grandmother after his mother went through a tough divorce and didn't think she was able to look after him well. I refer you to this article http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/07/us/AP-US-Family-Facebook-Flap.html the one they have here is incomplete.

[tx1836]

05:37 PM on 04/07/2010

Lessons to learn from Lane New

1. Don't write about driving 95 mph
2. Don't let your girlfriend control your emotions
3. Don't leave your computer where others can access
4. Don't stay logged on to fb while sleeping

[BlueZoo]

05:12 PM on 04/07/2010

Since the Grandmother has legal custody, it must be for a really good reason. I don't believe this case is about Facebook but rather about continued harassment by the mother, including her slandering him on FB. I hope the kid wins his suit, as it is obvious this mother has a screw loose. It's obvious this kid has no desire to have any contact whatsoever with her and she is pissed!

[bnyb]

03:27 PM on 04/07/2010

Ahhh Arkadelphia..... sounds like a magical place....

[AmazingChicken]

01:37 PM on 04/07/2010

Kid obviously doesn't know that anyone who's changed your diaper cannot be charged with slander by you.

[jsgaetano]

02:59 PM on 04/07/2010

Considering she isn't even trusted enought to have custody, the kid might have a point.

All mothers aren't created equal.

[MarkInIrvine]

11:49 PM on 04/07/2010

It's probably uncommon, BUT if a person slanders you (I think that on FB technically it would be LIBEL rather than slander) the person can be held liable notwithstanding a blood relationship. Obviously there is something wrong with this mother-child relationship if mom no longer has custody (not sayin' whose fault it is). I'm curious to see what the mom said. Teens this age can be pretty sensitive, and even something relatively innocuous could be perceived as devastating.

[Alwaysalily]

01:19 PM on 04/07/2010

All the kid has to do is one of two things: Either "defriend" his mother (and then block her), or "hide" any comments of hers. She'll still make comments, but they won't show up on his Facebook wall. He should also ask his friends to "hide" her comments also.

This is workable. I would choose the "defriend" option in this case. The kid is 16, almost an adult, and the mom needs to watch what she says or she's going to lose communication with her son altogether.

[MarkInIrvine]

11:50 PM on 04/07/2010

sounds as though that has already happened

[tuffigirl]

01:16 PM on 04/07/2010

I don't think the kid has a case personally. The only way she could have posted comments is if he accepted her as a friend... and if he didn't like her comments all he had to do was delete her from his friends list.

[tx1836]

05:43 PM on 04/07/2010

He left his fb account logged in on her computer. She read some things she didn't like and changed his passwords to fb and email.

[garystartswithg]

08:36 PM on 04/07/2010

ah ok -- so mom didn't take her little helpers. i don't think that is slander but being a sociopath all over someone else's facebook is not nice.

[BevInSoCal]

12:52 PM on 04/07/2010

A friend's niece crashed her car while driving under the influence, and while she rolled the car four times and was thrown through the windshield, she walked away with cuts and bruises. The next day, her stepmother posted photographs of the niece, her face cut and bruised, on Facebook, with her full name. That day, the niece walked out of the house and straight into the road in front of a truck. Be careful what you post online, friends. You never know what effect it might have.

[Mechelle Gray]

04:33 PM on 04/07/2010

Good Lord. That is so sad.

[BevInSoCal]

04:28 PM on 04/10/2010

I continue to be amazed at how cruel people can be, Mechelle. Whatever happened to good judgment?

[garystartswithg]

08:38 PM on 04/07/2010

sounds like something my parents would do -- glad i didn't grow up with facebook.

[BevInSoCal]

04:29 PM on 04/10/2010

Oh, hell yeah ... my Mama read my diary on a regular basis, which is how I learned that it's a good idea to keep a fake one around and the real one with me at all times. Of course, I have a huge bulge around my belly, but I just tell everybody its fat ;-)

[Aldyth]

12:39 PM on 04/07/2010

That's terribly sad when a family deteriorates to this level.

[pants maclachlan]

12:21 PM on 04/07/2010

I would've hoped that the author of this article would know the difference between slander and libel...

[MarkInIrvine]

11:52 PM on 04/07/2010

don't get your hopes up, mate - not that many of us know stuff like that (tho' i do ...)

[Cryostatic]

12:21 PM on 04/07/2010

Frances, is that you?

[Specter 2010]

12:20 PM on 04/07/2010

Some Moms need to be locked away forever.

[Clovie]

12:15 PM on 04/07/2010

Note to the AP: slander is spoken, libel is written.

[pants maclachlan]

12:22 PM on 04/07/2010

Heh - you beat me to it.

[MarkInIrvine]

11:53 PM on 04/07/2010

my little mnemonic was always: slander is spoken [oral] and libel is legible [written]

[dtmfman]

11:50 AM on 04/07/2010

I didn't know they had internet connections in trailers....

[A Flock Of Budgies]

11:53 AM on 04/07/2010

LOL

[Alexandiir]

12:12 PM on 04/07/2010

We also have indoor plumbing, electricity, and all kinds of other wonderful technological devices. Oh oh I also have all of my teeth and can read!

Yeah it is amazing what things you don't know about Arkansas.

[fencesitting13]

01:03 PM on 04/07/2010

Cmon. White people from the south are the last group on earth we are allowed to stereotype for jokes. Don't take that away from us.