What is it about online games and communities such as Everquest and World of Warcraft to name a couple that drives the people in them to do strange things they would never do otherwise (one would think). A long-time friend of Mrs. Obvious fell into that crap. She was married (not particularly happy) and met a guy online through a game. I played it a little bit but don’t even remember the name of it. Sort of a predecessor of Everquest. Anyway, she “fell in love” with this guy and their characters got married. She basically ended her unhappy marriage in order to be with this guy (that she had never met in person). Other than the fact that he did a lot of pills and smoked a bit of weed he actually seemed to be an OK guy though. The two of them got married and then she left him for some other guy she met online who beat her, got back with her 2nd husband, got divorced after cheating with another guy she met online, married him and moved to a faraway state. After being there for a few years he died after overdosing on some of the pills he was popping. All in all it was a very creepy existence. I am happy to report though that after she visited recently the wife has absolutely nothing in common with the woman anymore and pretty much shares my derision. Whew. I’m almost out of breath after that bit. This post wasn’t supposed to be about a creepy bitch I used to know, but it does fit right in with the world of Lauri Price.

42-year-old Lauri Price lives in Texas. Four kids, home, etc…Lauri also likes to play World of Warcraft. Through the game she met a guy from Canada named Andrew Kane. Over the last year and a half the two have grown to like each other and have become pretty devoted. Last month Price decided it was time to fly up to Canada and meet her online lover. Actually this wasn’t her first trip there. Lauri flew to Ontario last February and although she wasn’t able to lure the boy away from his home then, the two of them continued the online relationship.

Once she arrived in Toronto, Price drove to Barrie and met her beau. Did I mentioned that Andrew is only 16? No, I guess I didn’t but if he were an adult I wouldn’t be posting this here, now would I? Anyway, Lauri convinced the boy to run away with her. The two of them went to a bed and breakfast in order to engage in a bit of carnal knowledge.

Andrew’s parents reported him missing and two days later an off-duty police officer found the two of them. Initially the police held Lauri but apparently it’s not against the law for a woman to sleep with a 16-year-old boy in Canada, where the age of consent is 16. They had to let her go.

Fortunately the police in Barrie (I have also read that it was Kane’s mother that contacted them) contacted Texas law enforcement (where the age of consent is 17) and as soon as she flew into Houston she was arrested and charged with Online Solicitation of a Child and Enticing a Child. She is lodged in the Harris County Jail on $310,000 bond.

Oh, by the way, Price is/was a substitute teacher in a suburb of Houston. After she was arrested she was terminated from her position.

Updated 7/7/2010 – The Harris County District Attorney has determined that there was no way they can prove Lauri knew the boy was 16 and all charges have been dropped.

Lauri’s Facebook (cached)