Oregon man gets 2 years for drugging daughter's friends; the girls asked for more

An Oregon man who spiked the smoothies of his daughter's three friends with depressant drugs during a sleepover admitted to the crime and has been sentenced to two years in prison − short of how much time the girls and their families wanted.

Michael Meyden of Lake Oswego, Oregon, pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance in Clackamas County Circuit Court, a county spokesperson told USA TODAY on Wednesday. Once Meyden is released, he'll have three years of post-prison supervision.

“Mr. Meyden’s actions are inexcusable and reckless and required a punishment commensurate with the crime," Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth said in a statement. "The impact this event has had on the child victims, their families, and our community has been enormous.”

Jeff Turnoy, one of Meyden's attorneys, told USA TODAY that the two years of incarceration was "ultimately the sentence that was agreed upon by the parties."

"It came as a product of heavy negotiations between the two sides," Meyden said. "It was an outcome that both sides felt was fair."

The girls and their parents spoke ahead of the sentencing to explain the impact the crime had on them, according to the Oregonian newspaper, and asked a judge for a longer sentence, with one mother saying: "You played Russian roulette with my child’s life."

How did Michael Meyden drug the three girls?

Lake Oswego police began investigating Meyden on Aug. 26, 2023, when officers were called to the Randall Children's Hospital emergency room and learned that three girls had ingested a depressant drug called benzodiazepine.

Meyden drugged the girls during his 12-year-old daughter's sleepover, according to a search warrant obtained by USA TODAY. He put the drugs into mango smoothies and served them to the girls, the document continued.

Meyden turned himself into the Clackamas County Jail on Feb. 28 and was held on a $50,000 bond.

Investigators would later seize five prescription bottles of the insomnia pill Temazepam, scales, razor blades and tools used to grind pills into powder, according to the search warrant.

Why did Michael Meyden drug the girls?

Meyden told the court on Monday that his primary motivation behind spiking the girls' smoothies was to get them to go to sleep so they would be well-rested for the next day of activities his family had planned for everybody, Turnoy said.

He also said he put the drugs in the smoothies to prevent the girls from sneaking out of the house, Turnoy said.

"Mr. Meyden is incredibly remorseful and humbled and recognizes his conduct was completely inappropriate," he said. "He demonstrated authentic and genuine remorse in his statement to the court, which was nearly 10 minutes."

Turnoy described Meyden's 10-minute statement to the court as him demonstrating "authentic and genuine remorse."

“My whole life is destroyed,” Meyden told the court, the Oregonian reported. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”

Girl in court: 'My life has become a living hell'

All three of the girls Meyden drugged − and two of their mothers − gave victim statements to the court during the sentencing.

The girls have spent months recovering from Meyden’s crimes, which they said represented an extreme betrayal of trust, according to the Oregonian.

“We were taught adults are people we can trust, people we can go to when we need help or when we are scared,” one of the girls said in court, the newspaper reported. “Yet adults are not people I can simply trust anymore. They are people who scare me and make me think twice: What if they were to hurt me the same way as Mr. Meyden? My life has become a living hell because of you and your actions."

One of the mothers of the girls told the court Meyden was playing "Russian roulette" with her child's life, according to the Oregonian.

“She is barely 5 feet tall and on a good day 70 pounds soaking wet and you overdosed her," she said, adding that the drugs in her daughter's system were "off the charts."

“No decent parent feels the need to drug their own child and her friends,” another mother told the court, the Oregonian reported. “No decent parent puts their hands on drugged and unconscious young girls without nefarious intent.”

What was the girls' experience during the sleepover?

Between 9 and 11 p.m. on the night of the sleepover, Meyden brought the girls two smoothies each, the search warrant said. The orange drinks contained "tiny white chunks throughout" and had different colored straws, the document said.

One of the girls drank two glasses, another drank only one and the third "barely drank any at all" and just sipped the beverage "to be nice" because she didn't like the taste.

The third girl sent a text message to her mom, who alerted the police. She sent the text around midnight after Meyden tried to get them to go to bed, according to the search warrant.

"Mom please pick me up and say I had a family emergency. I don't feel safe. might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up," the girl's text said. "Please. PLEASE!"

The girl also texted numerous friends for a ride. A family friend agreed to pick her up after she said she felt "unsafe because of her friend's dad," the search warrant said.

One of the girls felt Meyden standing over, watching her for 15 minutes

When the girl spoke to investigators, she said Meyden tried to pull one of the other girls toward the side of the bed, and she pretended to be asleep, according to the court document. Meyden tried to do the same thing again, and that's when she texted her mom, the court filing continued.

When Meyden came around the girls a third time, the girl who called her mother could "feel him" standing over and watching her for 15 minutes, according to the search warrant. The girl's parents went to Meyden's home around 3 a.m. and picked the other two girls up.

About 12 hours after drinking the smoothie, one of the girls felt "woozy, hot, and clumsy," she told police, according to the search warrant. She was taken to a hospital and later tested positive for benzodiazepines.