A man who drugged three of his daughter’s 12-year-old friends with sedatives during a sleepover has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Michael Meyden, 57, from Oregon, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported.
The three 12-year-old girls were hospitalised after he laced their bedtime smoothies with benzodiazepine, which is prescribed for anxiety and also known as Valium, Xanax and Klonopin.
Benzodiazepines are depressants that produce sedation, sleepiness and relaxed mood, according to a probable cause affidavit seen by NBC.
Meyden’s daughter also tested positive for drugs but he was not charged with drugging her.
The affidavit did not specify why Meyden laced the smoothies with sedatives, but according to his lawyer he told the court he did it to ensure the girls went to sleep and did not sneak out of the house “so that they would engage in the activities that the family had planned the next day”.
Girl ‘blacked out’
On the night of the sleepover last August, Meyden was highly involved in the girls’ activities, taking them to get their nails done and picking up pizza for dinner, according to the affidavit.
The girls spent most of their time in the basement, where they were having a “spa night”, the affidavit said.
Before the four girls went to bed, Meyden made them smoothies with different coloured straws, and was “adamant” the girls drank out of their own cups, it said.
One girl drank two cups, and another girl drank one cup and a third said she did not like the smoothies and barely drank any at all.
The girl who told police she drank two smoothies said she began to feel woozy, hot and clumsy shortly after she finished the second smoothie.
She said she “blacked out” and slipped into a “thick, deep sleep” she had never experienced before, the affidavit said.
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‘I don’t feel safe’
The girl who didn’t drink much of the smoothie reported that Meyden came downstairs to the basement where they were sleeping more than once, and tried to physically separate her from the heavily sleeping girl.
The girl frantically began calling and texting her parents and friends to pick her up.
“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,” one of the texts said, according to the affidavit. “Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!”
The girl was able to reach a family friend, who picked her up and took her to her home. Eventually, two parents went to Meyden’s home to get the two other girls, the affidavit added.
Clackamas County district attorney John Wentworth said in a statement on Tuesday that Meyden deserved time behind bars.
“Meyden’s actions are inexcusable and reckless and required a punishment commensurate with the crime,” he said.
“The impact this event has had on the child victims, their families, and our community has been enormous.”