A 12-year-old girl whose sleepover smoothie had been spiked with sedatives by her friend’s father frantically texted her parents that she felt unsafe and begged them to pick her up in the middle of the night.
That was one of several details that emerged in the case of a creepy Oregon dad, who allegedly drugged his daughter’s friends with sedatives during a sleepover and then loomed over them while they snoozed.
Michael Meyden, 57, was indicted last week on three counts each of 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, said police in Lake Oswego, a suburb a few miles south of Portland.
The sordid incident unfolded during a sleepover that Meyden was hosting for his 12-year-old daughter and some of her friends last August. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Oregonian, Meyden brewed mango smoothies with something extra — ground-up benzodiazepine pills — and served the drinks with color-coded straws, insisting the girls drink up. The drinks contained “tiny white chunks,” and white powder could be seen floating on top.
Benzodiazepine is an anti-anxiety medication designed to “produce sedation and hypnosis, relieve anxiety and muscle spasms, and reduce seizures,” according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The girls would later describe Meyden as being “very involved with their activities,” as well as “constantly checking in on them and interjecting himself into their conversations.”
The girl who didn’t down the drink stayed awake, pretending to sleep while Meyden hovered over the bed she was sharing with a friend. He did this twice, each time removing her arm from where it lay across her friend, and one time moving her friend over. She feared he would come back and “do something,” she said later.
“Mom, please pick me up and say I had a family emergency,” the girl frantically texted her parents at 1:43 a.m., according to the affidavit. “I don’t feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!”
She also reached out to others in her orbit, and eventually the parents of another friend responded and came to get her.
Running into Meyden as he emerged from a bathroom that led to the room where another girl was sleeping, he “seemed drunk,” murmuring and slurring his words, the girl said.
Once home, the girl woke her parents, who alerted the other parents, who went to fetch the other kids — something Meyden allegedly tried to discourage them from doing before morning.
The next day, all three girls were taken to a local hospital, whose staff called police. They described feeling dizzy, woozy or blacking out, and all three tested positive for benzodiazepines.
Meyden, who got divorced at the end of last year, is out on $50,000 bail and living in a trailer park in Vancouver, Wash., The Oregonian said.
