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Oregon man spiked smoothies for daughter's 12-year-old friends with sedatives, affidavit says (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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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.

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[-] boyi 204 points 9 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.

[-] lingh0e@sh.itjust.works 17 points 9 months ago

This is like the plot of the movie Happiness.

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[-] StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world 153 points 9 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.

[-] agitatedpotato@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago

Id be at that door in 10 mins with a felony tucked in my waistband.

[-] Khrux@ttrpg.network 41 points 9 months ago

That could be phrases differently.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 22 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's completely unreasonable too.

Buy a proper holster, people, it's stylish and functional 😤

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[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 116 points 9 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 81 points 9 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.

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[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 69 points 9 months ago

Any explanation for this is going to be horrible

[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 106 points 9 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 37 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 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.

[-] JoBo@feddit.uk 45 points 9 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 33 points 9 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.

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[-] PrincessLeiasCat@lemmy.world 49 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 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?

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[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 34 points 9 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 11 points 9 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 10 points 9 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

[-] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 31 points 9 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.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago

Bill Cosby is NOT a role model!

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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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