An Oregon father has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to secreting a sedative into smoothies that he served to his daughter and her friends during a sleepover. Michael Meyden, 57, from Lake Oswego, faced charges after his daughter and three other girls, all aged 12, ingested the drug-laced beverages. According to court records, the girls reported feeling groggy and in some instances, lost consciousness. Meyden received his sentence on Monday in Clackamas County Circuit Court after a guilty plea to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, reports OregonLive.
The concerning events unfolded during a sleepover last summer when, according to court documents obtained by KPTV, Meyden made repeated visits to the basement to check on the sleeping girls, at one point testing whether one of the friends was asleep by holding his finger under her nose. The court documents detailed how one of the girls felt unsafe and reached out to her mother with a text message, pleading to be picked up due to a "family emergency." After the girl contacted a family friend who alerted her parents, around 3 a.m., parents arrived to take the remaining girls home. Initially, Meyden resisted letting them in, purportedly claiming the girls were asleep, before ultimately conceding.
All the girls who attended the sleepover tested positive for benzodiazepine, a sedative with effects including drowsiness and amnesia, and none had been prescribed this medication, as KATU News reports. During the police inquiry, one of the girls described feeling "woozy, hot, and clumsy,” and eventually succumbing to a "thick, deep sleep." After the incident, she experienced confusion and fear, repeatedly questioning "what happened."
Meyden was emotional as he apologized for his actions. As part of the sentence, he will also face three years of parole after his release from prison.
