An Oregon man, aged 57, who was found guilty of drugging several preteen girls by offering them fruit smoothies mixed with a prescription sedative at a sleepover with his 12-year-old daughter, is now facing a lawsuit from one of the victims.
A lawsuit was submitted earlier this week in Clackamas County Circuit Court, demanding $2.4 million from Michael Meyden and his former spouse, Yukiko Meyden, citing allegations of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and battery.
Meyden has admitted guilt to three felony charges related to causing someone else to consume a controlled substance earlier this year. In June, Judge Ann Lininger of the Clackamas County Circuit Court mandated that Meyden serve a two-year sentence in a state correctional facility.
A sleepover was held on August 23, 2023, at Meyden’s residence in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The allegation indicates that Meyden, via his daughter, extended an invitation to the plaintiff along with two other minor children to his home. At the sleepover, Meyden prepared mango smoothies for the young guests and “urged that the plaintiff and the other young attendees consume the smoothie he made,” according to the document.
Meyden eventually confessed to adding the sedative Temazepam, a controlled substance classified as Schedule IV and commonly used for treating insomnia, to the smoothies.
“Soon after drinking the smoothie prepared by defendant Michael Meyden, the plaintiff and two other minor children became tired and fell asleep. One of the minor children had, unbeknownst to defendant Michael Meyden, not ingested the smoothie,” the complaint states. “That child observed defendant Michael Meyden acting oddly and in a manner that was concerning to them. That child also observed that one of the other children seemed very ill.”
As previously noted by Law&Crime, the child who avoided consuming the smoothie made multiple calls and sent texts to her parents and family friends requesting a ride home.
“Mom please pick me up and say had a family emergency,” one of the texts from about 2 a.m. reportedly read. “[D]on’t feel safe. might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!”
Following a ride home from a family friend, the girl’s parents returned to Meyden’s residence to collect the other two friends and took them to the hospital. Two additional girls have shown positive results for benzodiazepine. According to reports, one of the girls described her experience to the police, stating that after consuming the smoothie from Meyden, she felt “woozy, hot, and clumsy” before drifting into a “thick, deep sleep.”
The child reported to the authorities that shortly after the other children had settled down in the basement for the night, she heard Meyden come into the basement too. The child, feigning sleep, reported witnessing Meyden shift the sleeping child beside her “toward the opposite side of the bed.”
Meyden made a second appearance and allegedly placed his finger beneath the nose of the same child to assess her breathing, followed by waving a hand in her face to confirm she was “soundly asleep.”