Michael Meyden is accused of making the smoothies with benzodiazepine, a drug typically prescribed for anxiety, according to a probable cause affidavit.

An Oregon man accused of spiking smoothies with sedatives and giving them to his daughter’s pre-teen friends has been charged with multiple felonies, according to court documents.

Michael Meyden, 57, of Lake Oswego, allegedly drugged three of his daughter’s friends while they slept over on the night of Aug. 25, 2023, according to court documents and a probable cause affidavit filed this week in Clackamas County.

The girls, all 12 years old, were hospitalized and tested positive for benzodiazepine, described in the affidavit as a drug typically prescribed for anxiety, with common prescriptions under the names Valium, Xanax and Klonopin. Benzodiazepines are a depressant that produces sedation, sleepiness and a relaxed mood, the affidavit said.

  • boyi@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 months ago

    This seems to be more serious that what have been suggested by other comments.

    Luckily one of the girls didn’t like the smoothie and didn’t take much. She didn’t fall into deep sleep and was the one who suspected something fishy going on when the man kept coming to the basement. The man even tried to separate the girls. Again, the girl protected her friends by pulling them closer to her. She finally managed to contact her family friend, when the man went outside, messaging them to come and bring her home, and once she was saved, the other families followed suit.

    Given a different scenario where everyone took the smoothies, I speculate with high degree of confidence someone would get sexually assaulted or worse.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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. It was unclear how many smoothies Meyden’s daughter drank, but one girl told police it appeared to be a significant amount, the affidavit said.

    One girl drank at least twice as much as the others, and the guy drugged his own daughter, too. What a piece of shit.

    A girl who told police she drank two smoothies said she began to feel woozy, hot and clumsy, shortly after finishing the second smoothie. She said she “blacked out” and slipped into a “thick, deep sleep” she never experienced before, the affidavit said.

    I know they’re only 12, but how much did he put in there I wonder?

    And did the girl who didn’t drink much of the smoothie just not like the flavor or whatever, or did she think it tasted weird because she could taste whatever he spiked it with?

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      and the guy drugged his own daughter, too. What a piece of shit.

      Well, he probably rightly assumed his daughter would not want him assaulting her friends and would tell someone.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      I occasionally take alprazolam under the tongue, and it does taste awful. Leaves a sort of metallic aftertaste.

    • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      It’s possible it tasted fine but subliminally she knew something was wrong about the drink because of his behavior. Everyone should listen to their instincts like that child, she followed her instincts again later that night and saved herself and her friends.

  • StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I don’t feel safe. I might not respond but please come get me

    My God, I would have an absolute panic attack if my kid ever texted me this. I would be shaking with fear and rage the entire drive over.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Burying the lede here:

    "Eventually two parents went to Mayden’s home to get the other two girls, but Meyden was reluctant to let them leave, the affidavit said. "

    The guy that drugged the girls didn’t want them to leave with their parents?!

    • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I think he was expecting the benzos to wear off before parents had any chance to inspect their kids. They showed up too early, and the effects of the benzos would have been quite evident, and he’d be in a fuckload of trouble. Which is exactly what’s happening.

  • Pretzilla@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    This was recently in an episode of The Bear.

    Catering a party of hyperactive kids and made spiked smoothies to sedate them. Wow.

  • NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Is it possible that the girls wanted to get rid of the father of their friend, spiked their own smoothies, and now an honest man is being pitchforked?

    Did that man do anything else than being present? Playing with the girls? Taking part in the sleepover? Did he have the drugs on hand? Did any of the girls have access to that drug at all? Was there a grudge?

    How single-sided can this reporting be?

    But after reading the initial article, yeah, probably a predator. Still. A thorough investigation should take place. There are well-meaning and involved people who don’t have an interest in abuse. It’s still possible the daughter was sick of her hyper-involved dad, and planned the whole thing. :')

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, and not zebras. The guy needs to have an investigation done, and a proper trial, yes of course. And if something else happened, hopefully it’ll come out during that, but that’s a bit of a weird thing to gravitate towards first, man.

      • NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        I’m not gravitating to that first at all. The other side of the story has been already told. I’m just saying what if. And things like that have happened. Why woulda nyone jump to the conclusion that it might be my first thought? It’s my last one. But one that has to be completely discussed and dismissed. Innocent until proven guilty. That article didn’t even hint at the possibility, it is an atrocity of journalism.

        • Drewelite@lemmynsfw.com
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          6 months ago

          I think what is more probable than a bunch of elementary kids stealing drugs, is that this guy isn’t actually a predator and just a REALLY stupid dad tired of the girls keeping him up all night. Figured Klonopin in a small enough dose would be perfectly safe. But he’s an idiot so he messed up the dose.

          But more likely than all that is he’s just a sick creep. But this is why we have due process.

    • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It’s still possible the daughter was sick of her hyper-involved dad, and planned the whole thing

      What the actual F, dude?

  • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Shitty article writing. He didn’t spike their drinks with ‘benzodiazepine’, he spiked them with ‘a benzodiazepine’.

    ‘Benzodiazepine’ isn’t any specific drug, it’s a structural class of drugs

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      6 months ago

      Looks like you’re right. I was expecting it to be like amphetamine, where it’s both a class and a specific compound.

      • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        The poor writing is academic, the story is horrifying. But the horror of the story had already been commented on, so I was nitpicking.

        Amphetamine is a shortening of a specific structural name, and is the example for the class of similar drugs, while benzodiazepine is a more general structural name for drugs that have linked benzene and diazepine rings; all of the drugs of interest have different functional groups, and there’s no ‘base’ drug that they’re modifications of

    • a4ng3l@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Not that actually doing it isn’t absolutely horrible but wait till you have children, at about 7yo they invite 8 of their friends in your house and it’s pouring outside.

      The idea of sedating them will eventually come in mind. Then obviously you’ll discard it.

      And come the moment of cleaning the mess they inevitably leave you’ll wonder if you should have done it.

      • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yeah, there’s a big difference between using melatonin as a “sedative” so they don’t stay up all night and wreck the house, and using a powerful sedative to knock them out and abuse them.
        Granted, I am NOT advocating using melatonin on other people’s kids, especially without consent from the parents, but one of those scenarios is considerably more evil than the other.
        This guy gave the kids adult anxiety meds in smoothies, that makes this particular scenario much worse than a misguided attempt to make them go to bed early.

        • a4ng3l@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Giving any psychoactive substance to anyone and especially kids without a specific prescription from a licensed practician is absolutely insane.

          Beside recreational drugs when an adult wishes to obviously.

        • JoBo@feddit.uk
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          6 months ago

          The motive here appears to be much more sinister. If you haven’t read the article in full…

          After Meyden went back upstairs, the third girl, frightened for her friend who had been sleeping heavily, again pulled close to her, the affidavit said.

          Meyden returned a second time and again tried to separate the girls from each other. He also put his finger underneath the nose of the girl who pretended to be sleeping “as if to see if she was soundly asleep, he then waved his hand in front of her face,” she told police, according to the affidavit.

          Meyden then went outside through a sliding glass door and the girl frantically began calling and texting her parents and friends to pick her up.

        • a4ng3l@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          In my view that’s not much better. Still not acceptable to medicate minors without parental approval and medical supervision. You never know for sure who’s allergic to what. Not your kid stay the fuck away.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Then obviously you’ll discard it.

        Apparently, since the article didn’t bring up any sort of sex crimes, he did not discard it.

        Where did he get the Benzos from?

        • Herbal Gamer@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          According to the affidavit, two girls slept on a pull-out couch in the basement, while two others slept in a bedroom in the basement. The third girl, who didn’t drink much of the smoothie, reported that Meyden came downstairs more than once. She had been sleeping close to another girl and said Meyden tried to physically separate the two, the document stated.

          After Meyden went back upstairs, the third girl, frightened for her friend who had been sleeping heavily, again pulled close to her, the affidavit said.

          Meyden returned a second time and again tried to separate the girls from each other. He also put his finger underneath the nose of the girl who pretended to be sleeping “as if to see if she was soundly asleep, he then waved his hand in front of her face,” she told police, according to the affidavit.

          I’m not sure but it does sound fishy as fuck.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I don’t disagree. But you’d think the article would be more explicit if he was suspected of sexually assaulting the girls.

            • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
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              6 months ago

              Some news places wouldn’t want to assume and put it in writing since that might “taint a jury pool” of they read about it before trial. Or a libel suit if the news places was wrong in their assumption.

              I believe that sexual assault/rape was 100% his goal, but I’m not a new organization.

            • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              They can’t say for sure because, thank goodness, it didn’t happen. But there are very few good explanations for heavily drugging children and attempting to physically move them.

            • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              Might just be written with context they were given and not insinuation. Which is good. But yeah. It seems he was trying to be a predator here from the context.

            • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              The parents showed up before he could. Also, one of the girls wasn’t affected as much and was able to run defense.

              He was trying to sexually assault them. There’s no question here.

        • dankm@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          One of the girls didn’t have any smoothie. She said he came downstairs multiple times to check if they were asleep.

          Sounds fishy.

  • Chefdano3@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    I have 2 year old twins… I get it.

    I mean it’s wrong and I would never do that, but I get it.

    • nac82@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      He went down and tried to separate the girls in their sleep while putting his hands on them.

      One girl describes how unsafe she felt for her drugged friends when he was trying to separate them.

      • candybrie@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        That’s obviously not what they meant.

        They get the desire to make a group of kids chill out and sleep.

        The blurb and headline make no insinuation of sexual abuse.

        • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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          6 months ago

          Oh yeah, the good man just wanted them kids to be quiet with that drug cocktail. Jesus fucking Christ dude, stop being so naive.