John Jefferson
Michael Meyden, who is accused of drugging his daughter’s friends at a sleepover in 2023, stands to read a statement in Clackamas County Circuit Court in Oregon City, Oregon, on Monday, June 10, 2024. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP)
A 57-year-old man in Oregon is going to prison after he admitted to drugging a group of preteen girls, serving fruit smoothies laced with a prescription sedative to his 12-year-old daughter and her friends during a sleepover party.
Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Ann Lininger on Monday ordered Michael Meyden to serve a sentence of two years in a state correctional facility, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Prior to the sentence being handed down, Meyden pleaded guilty to three counts of felony causing another person to ingest a controlled substance. He faced a maximum possible penalty of 4 1/2 years behind bars.
In exchange for pleading to the three felony counts, prosecutors dropped four counts of application of a Schedule IV controlled substance to another and three counts of delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
During Monday’s hearing, Meyden took the opportunity to address the court and apologize for his actions, The Associated Press reported.
“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”
According to the report, Meyden said that he had planned a sleepover for his daughter and three of her friends, all of whom were 12 years old at the time. The sleepover took place on Aug. 23, 2023, at Meyden’s home in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Meyden reportedly admitted that he wanted the four girls to go to sleep by 11 — both so that they would be well-rested for the following day and so that he could go to sleep. Meyden then made all of the kids fruit smoothies laced with benzodiazepine, a prescription drug used to treat insomnia and anxiety
Meyden’s daughter and two of the girls drank the smoothies, which they described to authorities as having “tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top,” Portland ABC affiliate KATU reported. The girls reportedly also said that Meyden “insisted” they finish their drinks and was “adamant that the girls drink out of their own cup.”
The girl who did not drink the smoothie reportedly told police that a short while after the four kids went to the basement to sleep, she heard Meyden enter the basement as well. While pretending to be asleep, the child said she saw Meyden move the friend sleeping next to her “toward the opposite side of the bed.”
Meyden then returned a second time and reportedly put his finger under the nose of the same child to check her breathing before waiving a hand in her face to ensure she was “soundly asleep,” KATU reported.
When Meyden left, the girl repeatedly called and texted her parents and family friends to come and pick her up.
“Mom please pick me up and say had family emergency,” one of the texts from about 2 a.m. reportedly read. “don’t feel safe. might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!”
After being picked up by a family friend and dropped at home, the girls parents went back and retrieved the other two friends from Meyden’s home and brought them to the hospital. The two other girls tested positive for benzodiazepine. One of the girls was reportedly speaking slowly and told police that after drinking the smoothie form Meyden she became “woozy, hot, and clumsy” before falling into a “thick, deep sleep.”
A mother to one of the girls who was drugged spoke during Monday’s hearing.
“No decent parent feels the need to drug their own child and her friends,” she said, per the AP. “No decent parent feels the need to go down and confirm children are unconscious. No decent parent puts their hands on drugged and unconscious young girls without nefarious intent.”
Victims who were drugged addressed Meyden directly.
“My life has become a living hell because of you and your actions. I want you to think of yourself as the monster you are,” one victim said, according to Portland Fox affiliate KPTV.
“You are horrible,” said another victim. “You are a rotten old man who did this to children.”
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