A young girl urgently requested her mother to pick her up from a friend’s house after being drugged by the friend’s father during a sleepover. Michael Meyden surreptitiously added a prescription sedative to mango smoothies he made for his daughter and her friends, insisting they consume the spiked drinks. Meyden later confessed to dosing the smoothies with Temazepam, a sedative commonly used to treat insomnia.
Despite not drinking the tampered smoothie, one of the girls persistently contacted her parents and family friends for assistance, expressing feelings of insecurity and pleading for rescue. Subsequently, she was retrieved by a family friend and brought home, following which her parents retrieved the other two friends and took them to the hospital.
Tests revealed that the two girls who drank the spiked smoothies tested positive for benzodiazepine. One of them exhibited symptoms like sluggish speech, feeling hot, clumsiness, and eventually falling into a deep slumber after consuming Meyden’s smoothie. The affected girl recounted hearing Meyden entering the basement where they were sleeping and observed him manipulating one of the girls before checking her breathing and ensuring she was asleep.
During Meyden’s sentencing, one victim described the traumatic experience, stating that her life had turned into a nightmare due to his actions, condemning him as a monster. Another victim criticized Meyden, labeling him as a reprehensible individual. Court records from Clackamas County revealed that Meyden and his ex-wife reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by a victim’s father, although the settlement amount remains undisclosed, and further legal proceedings have been terminated.
The lawsuit filed in November 2024 sought $2.4 million in damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and battery. Earlier that year, Meyden pleaded guilty to three felony charges related to drugging someone. In June 2024, Circuit Court Judge Ann Lininger sentenced Meyden to a two-year prison term for his actions.