Philly Judge Sentences Cyberbully

Good Riddance. A federal judge sentenced Matthew Bean, of Bergenfield, N.J., to 45 days in the pen for leading an “electronic mob” that tried to drive a boy to suicide. (It was, thankfully, unsuccessful, and that unnamed boy is now in college.) Bean found illicit photos the boy had taken of himself around age 12 or 13 online, then forwarded them to the boy’s private school, claiming to be a concerned parent. A Web group he led then taunted the boy online. Though defense attorney Donald J. Goldberg—of Ballard Spahr; Bean’s adopted father is a local real estate exec—dismissed the crime as “a few fleeting clicks of the computer,” according to the AP, Judge Anita Brody sent him to the slammer anyhow. [AP via Wall Street Journal]