Niamh Shackleton
An Oregon father is facing allegations of drugging his daughter and her friends at a sleepover last year, with one of the girls alleging he carried out 'tests' to see if they were asleep.
57-year-old Michael Meyden allegedly spiked his 12-year-old daughter and her friends' smoothies during what was supposed to be a fun evening for the girls in August 2023.
It's believed he used benzodiazepine, a depressant that slows the nervous system, as a means of drugging the schoolgirls.
One of the sleepover-goers described herself as feeling 'woozy, hot and clumsy' after drinking one of the smoothies given to her by Meyden.
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During the ordeal, one of his daughter's friends sent an alarming text to her mom asking for her to come get her.
The chilling message read: "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!!"
Her parents were asleep, however, so she contacted a family friend who came to get her in the early hours of the morning.
In another devastating text sent by the girl, she alleged that Meyden was doing 'tests' on them to see if they were asleep or not.
"So I’m 'sleeping', and her dad comes down and [I’m] hugging [one of the other girls] because she was scared, and he kept moving us away from each other but kept doing tests to make sure we weren’t awake," she said.
Reportedly, Meyden made repeated trips down to the basement where the girls slept and checked to see if they were asleep.
At one point, he even waved his hand in front of one of the girl's faces to see if she was asleep.
When the family friend arrived to pick the girl up, Meyden allegedly seemed drunk and slurred his words when speaking to them.
As per an affidavit obtained by The New York Post, when the first friend arrived home, her parents went back to retrieve the other two girls so ensure their safety.
Following the scary ordeal, Meyden is facing charges including causing another person to ingest a controlled substance and application of a controlled substance to the body of another person.
He handed himself in at the Clackamas County Jail, Oregon City, on Wednesday (February 28) after indictment by a grand jury charging him with several felonies and misdemeanours was issued.
The 57-year-old father has pleaded not guilty to the charges he's facing and his bail was set at $50,000 during his arraignment at Clackamas County Circuit Court.