An Oregon man who drugged his daughter’s friends with a sleeping medication after they didn’t go to bed during a sleepover was sentenced to two years in prison.
An Oregon man who drugged his daughter and her friends with fruit smoothies laced with a sleeping medication after they didn’t go to bed during a sleepover was sentenced to two years in prison.
Michael Meyden, a 57-year-old from the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, apologized during his sentencing Monday after pleading guilty to three felony counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, The Oregonian reported.
“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”
Every parent has had this thought at some point. I’ve even joked about it with other parents, but I never thought in a million years anyone would actually do it. I’ll admit to buying too much pizza and hoping the kids knock off early, but serving up benzo smoothies to 12-year-olds is fucking insane. He deserves what he gets, and should not be allowed near children without a lot of mandated therapy.
This was an attempted rape that didn't get far enough for the courts to 'prove' it, but the girls report him trying to separate them after they were drugged. He wasn't just trying to get them to quiet down.
Sometime between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., Meyden prepared the smoothies “and insisted they drink them,” the girls told police. The drinks had “tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top,” the affidavit says.
One of the girls said she didn’t like smoothies and declined to drink hers, but Meyden insisted, even making a second one for her to try, Palmeri wrote.
wtf
He also moved one girl’s arm and moved her body on the bed, the affidavit says. The girl “remained awake in fear that Mr. Meyden was going to do something” to her friend, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit says Meyden walked out of the room, prompting a girl to text her mother at 1:43 a.m. Sunday: “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!!”
I admit to giving my son melatonin as he went to bed. He had a hell of a lot of trouble staying asleep and after reading some research it seemed that he might be lacking that particular drug to help his brain stay asleep. This after his doctor came very close to killing him with overprescribing Abilify, to the point that the other psychiatrists called in to consult on his case were shocked at the dosage levels. He spent a week in the ICU on the edge of death. I should have not been satisfied with that doctor getting his license revoked, and instead pursued criminal charges, but alas, he's dead now. Not my son, the doctor. My son is flourishing.
Speak for yourself.. I have never had the thought of drugging my kid so they sleep early
For starters, the entire point of a sleepover as a kid is to stay up late, chat, eat garbage food and watch tv/video games or whatever. I have never heard of anyone wanting a sleep over so they can go to bed early in someone else's home.
I don't even get what the deal is with people and strict bed times; let alone during a sleepover. If you don't want your kid to go to bed late, tell them they cannot have a sleepover.
Why is this guy whining about his life being ruined? The courts might not be able to prove he was going to rape any children but that little girl texting for help could tell what he was planning.
What he did was at a minimum enough to form some seriously fucked up core memories that stay with them for life. Imagine trying to trust anyone outside of your family ever again after getting drugged by your friend's dad.
Why benzos? I feel like he would have not raised suspicion or gotten in the same trouble if he’d just let the girls eat some melatonin gummies or something. Wouldn’t even need to be sketchy about it.
C’mon man, these are kids. They’re not even all his kids. It’s a sleepover. They stay up late or even to the wee hours of the morning and make noise, watch movies, whatever. That’s what you do as a kid on a sleepover. Giving them any substance to try to make them sleep is a ridiculous idea on multiple levels.
Fuck those comments man... I have a daughter and she is fond of sleepovers... if I ever get a text from her asking for help, I would show up in that house like the Kool-aid man from hell
An article was linked in other comment threads, there was a clear start and an uncomfortable girl who texted her mom with absolute fear of being raped.
Something a lot more than moving them around may have happened if she didn't send that text. So yes, no clear attempt at sexually assaulting the girls, but the amount of effort he went to.... Doesn't give me the feeling that this was only about a good night's rest.
That said, I'd prefer the girls safe over him getting more time in prison any day of the week.
Did I suggest that? Not sure why you’d think I’d be saying that
If you’re going to tackle medical issues as a journalist, you should use accurate language. Poorly written technical content will always suffer, regardless of the point of the article
Ah yes, because it matters if it was diazapram versus alprazolam. The pharmacology is effectively identical... a headline stating "benzos were given to children" is a lot more clear than and obvious than "children given klonopin"
I feel like dude can come back from this if he only did it cause he was fed up with their shit and wanted them to go to sleep. That's just a really dumb mistake. The headline immediately makes you think rapey stuff might have gone on (or been the motive).
... because rapey stuff seemed to start happening and may have continued if one of the girls didn't text someone?
dude was checking them for consciousness, something unnecessary if he only wanted them to sleep.
if he was checking them to ensure they were alive, then he deserves a serious ass prison sentence as well, because he then clearly understood how risky what he was doing was.
so ... yeah, as far as I am concerned this guy seems like prison is the right answer.
Could go either way as he dosed preteen children with fucking benzos.
I figured it was something like melatonin and the punishment might have been excessive, but nope.
Intentions aside, that's just really unsafe.
Although now I'm curious if was at least measuring out the dose for each drink, or just tossing some undissolved pills in the blender and hoping it distributes evenly.
No. Do not fucking downplay drugging children. You should delete your comment, it's entirely unacceptable to drug your own children without their knowledge, let alone other children sleeping at your house. It's not just a dumb mistake, holy shit do you have a bad take here.
No? No elaboration? Afraid to say the quiet parts? Ok I'll say them for you.
This line of thinking is disgusting. You're saying that because these girls will* partake in drugs and other "uncouth" behavior in the future, them getting it now isn't a big deal.
Just in case anyone couldn't read between the lines. If we're going to be gross, let's just cut the pretenses and just say it, eh?
*Nevermind that you know nothing about these kids now, let alone their futures.