57-year-old Michael Meyden allegedly gave the girls mango smoothies with white chunks in them and insisted they drink
An Oregon man is accused of drugging three 12-year-old girls with benzodiazepine at his daughter’s sleepover last summer, then waiting for them to fall asleep.
Michael Meyden, 57, turned himself into police on Thursday and was indicted on nine felony and misdemeanor charges, including causing another to ingest a controlled substance, according to the Lake Oswego Police Department.
Police say Meyden was taken in at the Clackamas County Jail. However, jail records reviewed by PEOPLE show he is no longer in custody as of Friday morning. The Oregonian reports his bail was set at $50,000.
According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators were called to the Randall Children’s Hospital on Saturday, August 26 last year to speak with three girls who were being treated after suspecting they were given drugs by their friend’s father the night before, per The Oregonian.
The affidavit claims that Meyden was unusually involved in the girls’ sleepover plans and constantly checked in on them throughout the night, the girls told police, according to The Oregonian.
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The girls said sometime between 9 and 11 p.m., Meyden delivered mango smoothies with white chunks in them to the girls and encouraged them to drink them, even making a second drink when one of the girls complained about the taste, the girls reportedly claimed to police. Investigators later alleged in a probable cause affidavit that Meyden gave the girls benzodiazepine, according to the newspaper.
The affidavit says that later when the girls went to bed, one of the girls who secretly did not finish her drink saw Meyden come downstairs and perform tests to see if the girls were sleeping, including putting a finger under one of their noses and waving a hand in front of her face, according to The Lake Oswego Review.
The girl reportedly told police “she could feel him watching her by his presence as she kept her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep,” per the affidavit. Once Meyden left the room, The Oregonian reports that the affidavit says that the girl frantically texted her mother at 1:43 a.m. local time: “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 (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!”
The girl’s mother soon alerted the other parents and arrived at Meyden’s house to pick up her daughter. Meyden reportedly insisted the parents come back in the morning, saying the girls were asleep, but the parents ignored his request, the newspaper reports.
Police said in an affidavit that officers arrived at the hospital and said one of the 12-year-old girls “walked slowly and used the assistance of her mother for balance, her eyelids were heavy, and she spoke slowly.” Another girl could not walk without assistance when her parents picked her up that night, repeating “what happened,” police said, according to The Oregonian.
Lake Oswego Police later determined that Meyden “was responsible for the drugs detected in the girls’ bloodstreams,” according to the Lake Oswego Police Department. It is unclear if Meyden has retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
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