A disgraced Oregon father is accused of giving his daughter’s 12-year-old friends laced smoothies while they were at his home for a slumber party, police say.
Michael Meyden, 57, allegedly drugged three young girls during the disturbing August 26, 2023, sleepover in Lake Oswego, Fox News reports.
The girls were taken to the hospital after contacting their parents for help. They tested positive for benzodiazepine — a depressant that causes sedation and hypnosis, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
“Mom please pick me up and say I had a family emergency,” one girl texted her mother at 1:43 a.m. after drinking a mango smoothie that Meyden allegedly “insisted” upon. “I don’t feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!”
The mysterious drinks had “tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top,” the victims told police.
While one girl told police she felt “woozy, hot, and clumsy” before falling over and going into a “thick, deep sleep,” another girl managed to stay awake and text her mother the emergency message.
While waiting for help to arrive, she said she “could feel him watching her by his presence as she kept her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep,” according to the affidavit.
According to the brave girl, Meyden was “doing tests to make sure we weren’t awake,” by allegedly putting his finger under a girl’s nose and moving another girl’s body as he repeatedly checked on them in the basement.
Though the girl’s mother did not immediately respond to the alarming text, the 12-year-old managed to get in touch with a family friend who picked her up. After this friend alerted the girl’s parents, they notified the other friends’ parents.
The other parents were at Meyden’s house by 3:00 a.m. to pick up their children, much to the alleged predator’s chagrin.
Fox News reports that “he resisted and asked them to return in the morning,” but the parents took their girls anyway.
One of the victims appeared to be confused and could not walk on her own, prompting her parents to take her to the hospital.
In an interview with investigators less than 12 hours after she consumed the smoothie, police said she “walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance, her eyelids were heavy, and she spoke slowly.”
Meyden and his wife divorced less than two months after the sleepover.
The suspect was slapped with six felonies on February 26, as well as three misdemeanors. The charges include three counts of causing another to ingest a controlled substance, three counts of application of a Schedule 4 controlled substance to another, and three counts of delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, according to Lake Oswego Police.
During his arraignment on Wednesday, Meyden pleaded not guilty to all charges and was freed after posting a $50,000 bail.