Dozens of profanity-laced comments, some threatening violence, followed and eventually spiraled into what has been described as a malicious cyberbullying attack targeting David.
For months the harassment continued — until David, a 16-year-old former Alamo Heights High School student, committed suicide in January.
"I never, ever, ever want another parent to have to go through what we have gone through," David's mother, Maurine Molak, said Tuesday at the state Capitol. "The suffering is indescribable."
David's gut-wrenching story was delivered to a panel of state senators in a precursor to the Texas Legislature diving into the precarious issue of trying to regulate cyberbullying, a growing problem state lawmakers said extends beyond the world of teenagers.
At the request of state Sen. José Menéndez, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee took its first look at the topic Tuesday. The San Antonio Democrat says he will push a proposal next legislative session aimed at preventing and combating online harassment.
State senators were told at the interim hearing that the advent of social media and apps has transformed conventional bullying tactics into something far darker and nefarious: Smashing someone into a locker has given way to creating fake online accounts that harass people with menacing messages 2 4/7.
Further exacerbating the situation, according to testimony from victim's families: Those seeking help from law enforcement are often rebuffed on the basis that current state laws don't cover most cyberbullying episodes.
Menédez said his bill is an attempt to keep Texas laws on pace with evolving technology.
"When we went to school, we could get away from bullies," he said at the hearing. "Today, the bullies are following people home."
Menéndez's proposal has been dubbed "David's Law" as an ode to the teen. State Rep. Ina Minjarez, D-San Antonio, will champion the measure in the state House.
The Legislature convenes in January.
On Tuesday, Menéndez got his first chance to publicly air a draft version of the bill, a wide-ranging proposal intended to give police and school districts more power to crack down on those perpetrating anonymous online attacks.
The measure, which is still being fined-tuned ahead of the legislative session, currently calls for making it a misdemeanor to harass someone online who is younger than 18 and would provide more counseling and rehabilitation programs to victims and those doing the bullying.
Under the draft version, school districts and law enforcement would be allowed to collaborate on cyberbullying investigations, and police could seek subpoenas to "unmask anonymous social media users who send threatening messages."
Menéndez said he is expecting to get some pushback on privacy and free speech issues but that he has already received positive signals from Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus, whose district includes Alamo Heights High School.
"My goal, our hope, is that David's Law will empower school administrators and law enforcement to go after and reprimand the bullies who prey on the students," Menéndez said at a news conference earlier in the day.
The apparent inability of law enforcement to go after cyberbullies because of limits in current state laws became a central topic at the hearing.
Leo Vasquez testified that his teenage son, now a senior at Antonian College Preparatory High School, endured months of online harassment while he was undergoing treatment for leukemia.
Fake social media accounts were created for the sole purpose of mocking his son. And, Vasquez said, it quickly turned into a whack-a-mole scenario: As soon as one account was shuttered, another, even nastier, would pop up almost instantly, emboldened by the ease and anonymity.
The cyberbullying eventually stopped after several months and the family never knew who was behind the attacks, Vasquez said, but efforts to get the Bexar County district attorney's office to press a case were ultimately rejected.
"The outcome was that this is not harassment," said Vasquez, who met with investigators from the DA's office. "And the outcome was law enforcement couldn't help us."
State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said he believed local officials should have been able to help Vasquez, calling it a "really, really poor response by the district attorney and law enforcement."
"I'm shocked," Whitmire, D-Houston, said, noting that he believed current laws provide local authorities some power to pursue charges in situations like the one Vasquez outlined.
The Molak case also ended with nobody being charged, even though the Alamo Heights student who was believed to be the ringleader of the cyberbullies was identified early. The DA did not file charges related to David's suicide because there was "insufficient evidence" to support a harassment case.
In testimony to state senators, Maurine Molak described the monthslong spiral her son endured after the cyberbullying began that night in late October: His world was crushed, she said, and he quickly became depressed and detached, eventually trying to commit suicide three times before ending his life in January.
"To add to the pain," Maurine Molak told state senators, "there have been no consequences for the cyberbulliers."
©2016 the San Antonio Express-News, distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
