Father accused of drugging 12-year-old daughter’s friends with laced mango smoothies during sleepover

Michael Meyden, 57, was charged after three of the sleepover-goers ended up in hospital and drugs were detected in their systems

A father has been accused of drugging his daughter’s 12-year-old friends with spiked mango smoothies when he hosted a sleepover at the family home.

Michael Meyden, 57, was charged on multiple counts after three of the sleepover-goers ended up in hospital and drugs were detected in the girl’s bloodstreams, the Lake Oswego Police Department said in a news release.

The incident unfolded in August last year when three 12-year-old girls were allegedly exposed to an unknown prescription drug while at a sleepover at a friend’s home in Lake Oswego.

They were taken for treatment at Randall Children’s Hospital in August.

A redacted probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Mail states that the hospitalised girls tested positive for benzodiazepines, a drug typically prescribed for anxiety and can cause sleepiness and a relaxed mood.

On the day of the sleepover, Mr Meyden was “very involved” in the girls’ activities, such as taking them to get their nails done and picking up pizza for dinner, the affidavit claims.

Before the girls went to bed, Mr Meyden allegedly made them two smoothies each in milkshake-style glasses, giving them their specific straws, adamant that the girls drank out of their own cups.

All the girls drank differing amounts of the smoothies; one girl said she did not like smoothies, so barely drank the smoothie at all.

While the girls were asleep, two on a pull-out couch and two in a bedroom, both in the basement, the girl who did not drink much of the smoothie claimed that Mr Meyden came downstairs during the night more than once, the affidavit states.

While sleeping close to another girl, she alleged that Mr Meyden had tried to move them away from each other.

He allegedly put his finger underneath the nose of the girl who was pretending to be asleep “as if to see if she was soundly asleep, he then waved his hand in front of her face”, she told police.

The affidavit claimed that “she could feel him watching her by his presence as she kept her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep”.

In a text to a family friend, the girl added that Mr Meyden appeared to keep “doing tests to make sure we weren’t awake”, the affidavit alleges.

After Mr Meyden left, she texted her parents, telling them she did not feel safe, and eventually got hold of a family friend who picked her up and took her home.

The two other girls were then collected, but not before Mr Meyden allegedly “stated the girls were asleep” and “insisted” they come back in the morning to get them.

One girl recalled to police that she felt “woozy, hot and clumsy” and “blacked out,” while another description said one girl went into a “thick, deep sleep”, something she never experienced before, the affidavit alleges.

At noon the following day, police observed that one girl “walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance, her eyelids were heavy, and she spoke slowly”.

Mr Meyden turned himself in at the Clackamas County Jail on 28 February.

Mr Meyeden faces nine counts in total: three counts each for 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.

Mr Meyden’s attorney, Mark Cogan, said his client was arraigned on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty, according to NBC News. 

A bail of $50,000 was issued and has been posted, Mr Cogan said.

“Mr Meyden is presumed innocent,” Mr Cogan told the outlet. “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.”

The affidavit does not state if Mr Meyden had a motive behind his alleged actions.

He is expected to appear in court again on 8 April for a hearing, and his trial is set to start on 25 April, according to online court records.