An Oregon father has been sentenced to prison time after pleading guilty of drugging three 12-year-old girls during his daughter's sleepover.
As previously reported, 57-year-old Michael Meyden allegedly gave three of his daughter's friends mango smoothies laced with benzodiazepine while they slept over on the night of August 25, 2023, per court documents obtained by Oregon Live.
During the day of the sleepover, the father was highly involved in the girls’ activities and took them to get their nails done and picked up pizza for dinner, according to the affidavit.
Per NBC News, the pre-teens spent most of their time in Meyden's basement, where they were having a "spa night".
As part of the evening, Meyden made them smoothies in milkshake-style glasses. One of the 12-year-olds told officers that she didn’t like the smoothies, but Meyden allegedly demanded she drink it and made her a second one to try.
He then continuously visited the basement throughout the night to see if they were awake by waving his hands or putting his finger under their noses. One girl recalled that Meyden moved her body, but she "remained awake" in fear that he was going to do something.
When Meyden left the room, one girl sent an urgent text to her mom for help at around 1:43AM, writing: "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. Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!"
Although her mom didn't answer, a family friend fortunately did answer the girl's cries for help and picked her up from the home. The family friend then woke the parents of the others girls.
All of the girls were hospitalized and tested positive for benzodiazepine - a depressant that slows the nervous system and is usually prescribed for anxiety - with common prescriptions under the names Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin. Meyden’s daughter was one of the girls who tested positive.
The three girls were allegedly given mango smoothies laced with benzodiazepine. Credit: fotostorm/Getty
Authorities said in an affidavit that cops arrived at the hospital and said one of the 12-year-old girls "walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance, her eyelids were heavy, and she spoke slowly," while another girl could not walk without assistance when her parents picked her up that night and kept repeating "what happened," according to PEOPLE.
Meyden voluntarily handed himself into the police.
During his trial, Meyden told the court that he just wanted the girls to get a good night's sleep, adding that his daughter had once snuck out of the house before. He explained: "I was truly worried about them, and I justy wanted them to go to bed and I wanted them to go to bed."
However, the parents of the girls weren't convinced, with one mom saying: "No decent parent feels the need to drug their own child and her friends.
"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."
"You played Russian roulette with my child's life," another mother said.
Meyden added in his testimony: "My whole life is destroyed [...] Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone."
A follow-up investigation by authorities - during which, Meyden's electrical devices were searched - showed no clear motive for the druggings.
Despite initially submitting a not guilty plea in February, Meyden would eventually plead guilty to three felony counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance and was sentenced to two years in prison.
