Authorities in northwestern Oregon accused a man of drugging his daughter’s teenage friends’ smoothies during their sleepover at his home last August, according to a Lake Oswego Police Department (LOPD) press release.
Three 12-year-old visitors received treatment at a children’s hospital after their alleged exposure to an “unknown prescription drug” on Aug. 26, 2023, the LOPD said in the press release. Following an investigation, detectives alleged Michael Meyden, 57, “was responsible for the drugs detected in the girls’ bloodstreams.”
Meyden presented himself Wednesday at the Clackamas County Jail, the LOPD said. He faces three counts each of “Causing Another to Ingest a Controlled Substance,” “Application of a Schedule-4 Controlled Substance to Another” and “Delivery of a Controlled Substance to a Minor,” the police added.
LOPD Detective Nicole Palmeri identified the drug with which Meyden allegedly contaminated the girls’ mango drinks as benzodiazepine, a court affidavit said, according to The Oregonian. Benzodiazepines are a class of “depressants that produce sedation and hypnosis, relieve anxiety and muscle spasms, and reduce seizures” and are legally obtainable only by prescription, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The girls suspected their smoothies, which had “tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top,” had been drugged, the affidavit alleged, according to The Oregonian. One of them reportedly refused to drink it, saying she did not appreciate smoothies, but it was alleged that Meyden reportedly insisted and provided another smoothie for her, Palmeri added. (RELATED: ‘Every Parent’s Worst Nightmare’: Woman Accused Of Selling Drug-Laced Candy To Children)
A 57-year-old Lake Oswego man was just indicted by a Clackamas County Grand Jury for drugging girls at a sleepover late last summer. Read more here: https://t.co/0dC3KK3EHI pic.twitter.com/QYrnCNHzy2
— Lake Oswego Police (@LOPolice) February 29, 2024
The girls “got ready for bed at Mr. Meyden’s direction,” and Meyden repeatedly entered the basement and allegedly checked to see if the girls were asleep, allegedly waving in one’s face and moving another’s arm and body, according to affidavit, The Oregon reported.
One of the girls pretended to drink the smoothie, feigned sleep afterward and texted her mother that she felt unsafe and needed to be picked up, the affidavit read, the Lake Oswego Review reported.
“Mom please pick me up and say I had a family emergency. I don’t feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!” her text read, the affidavit revealed, according to The Oregonian.
A family friend retrieved the girl, then they reached out to the other parents, according to the affidavit, Lake Oswego Review reported. Meyden allegedly protested to the two other parents who arrived at the house that the girls were asleep, yet they insisted, according to the outlet.
One of the girls “walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance” and her “eyelids were heavy” about 12 hours after the alleged drugging, Palmeri described, according to The Oregonian. The girl also reportedly “spoke slowly,” alleging that she felt “woozy, hot and clumsy” after imbibing the drink and had blacked out, falling into a “‘thick, deep sleep’ that she had never experienced before,” the detective added. She kept asking her parents “what happened” after leaving Meyden’s house, Palmeri continued.
Meyden and his wife divorced late 2023, court records showed, The Oregonian reported. The indictment reportedly did not list their two children as victims.