Michael Meyden has pleaded not guilty to the crimes
An Oregon dad has been accused of lacing mango smoothies with drugs and serving them to his 12-year-old daughter’s friends at a sleepover.
Michael Meyden, 57, has been indicted on nine counts after three girls ended up in hospital with drugs detected in their systems.
In August last year, the three girls were rushed to Randall Children’s Hospital after exposure to the prescription drug, which tested positive for benzodiazepine depressants.
Meyden was apparently very involved in his daughter’s activities while hosting her friends, including taking them to get their nails done and picking up pizza.
Before the girls went to sleep, he made them two smoothies each and ensured they each drank out of their own cups, it was heard.
One of the girls who drank a smoothie texted her family in fear, saying: ‘So I’m “sleeping” and her dad comes down and [I’m] hugging [one of the other girls] because she was scared, and he kept moving us away from each other but kept doing tests to make sure we weren’t awake.
He allegedly tested to see if one girl was asleep (Picture: LinkedIn)
‘Also, [the other girl] won’t wake up and she did for like 2 seconds, but she kept her eyes closed and didn’t talk.’
When the girl’s family arrived to pick up their child, Meyden reportedly ‘seemed drunk’ and was slurring his words, but let her go.
Meyden also allegedly put his finger under one of the girl’s noses to see if she was asleep, police were told.
One of the girls said she felt ‘woozy, hot and clumsy’, with another telling police she went into a ‘thick, deep sleep’.
Meyden turned himself into authorities on February 28 for nine counts: three for causing another to ingest a controlled substance, three for application of a schedule-4 controlled substance to another and three delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
Attorney Mark Cogan says Meyden was arraigned on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty, according to NBC News.
The drugs were confirmed to be benzos (Picture: Pinterest)
He told them: ‘We have not seen the evidence. The indictment was issued by a grand jury behind closed doors where no judge, no defence attorney, was allowed. And we hope that people will reserve judgement until all the facts are known.’
Police said in a statement: ‘On Saturday, August 26, 2023, Lake Oswego police were notified that three 12-year-old girls were being treated at Randall Children’s Hospital after reporting they had been exposed to an unknown prescription drug while at a sleepover at a friend’s home in Lake Oswego.
‘Detectives investigated the incident and determined that 57-year-old Michael Meyden of Lake Oswego, who was the host of the sleepover, was responsible for the drugs detected in the girls’ bloodstreams.’
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