Just for a little more context, this is how the one girl who *didn't* drink the laced smoothies described what happened next:
> The girl who remained conscious told investigators that she saw Meyden try to pull one of the other girls toward the side of the bed, and she pretended she was sleeping and put her arm around the girl. Meyden came back downstairs a second time and tried to do the same thing, the girl said. When he left again, the girl texted her mom.
> When Meyden came back a third time, the girl said he stood over her and she could "feel him" watching her for 15 minutes.
Also, the third girl and her parents are heroes:
> When she was able to get in touch with a family friend, she told the friend she felt "unsafe because of her friend's dad" and the friend agreed to pick her up.
> When she was taken home, the girl woke up her parents and explained what happened. Her parents tried contacting the parents of the girls still at the sleepover and could not get a hold of them.
> At 3 a.m., the girl's parents went back to Meyden's home and picked up the other two girls. Meyden was "evasive" and told them to come back in the morning.
> The girl's parents persisted and were able to pick up the girls and take them to their homes.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/05/michael-meyden-oregon-dad-drugging-sleepover-girls-charges/72842406007/
That girl is a hero. And the friend that picked her up no questions asked is a saint. Good on the parents for going back for the other girls too. I don't know if they were able to stop everything. But the amount of damage they prevented cannot be overstated. Plus that girl's witness testimony was probably what put that monster away.
I know it's hard to feel good after something like that. But I hope that girl, her friend, and her parents know that they did the right thing, and helped a lot of people out of a dangerous situation. I hope everyone involved is healing the best they can.
I’m hoping he got spooked after the conscious girl was picked up and didn’t try anything after, at least for a while until her parents came back and picked up the other two.
I am hoping that since the girls went to a station for testing, that they were also able to rule out some of the more egregious (noticeable) offenses a person could do to an unconscious person. And as you said, hopefully, "just in case", this guy decided it best to not try anything further in the interim.
They went to a hospital, where they were all found to have benzos in their system… they also found evidence in a mortar & pestle, used to grind the meds up, scales & a razor blade containing the same substance. So after everyone LOLed at his excuse of “just wanting them to be well-rested for the next day” & “to have them fall asleep so that he could fall asleep” - luckily one girl did not care for the mango smoothies & therefore stayed alert enough to monitor his behaviour & now the man is going to jail (not for long enough, but at least at all)…
I feel really bad for the daughter. Now she will be known as "the girl whose father drugged her friends and tried to rape them at a sleepover". I really hope she gets proper help and still has her friends after all of this.
I can't imagine the guilt. The idea that you were used as bait for something so heinous. The idea your own father was capable of all of this, and using you. The idea of how close one or more of your friends were to being assaulted, or the possibility that you may have also been targeted by your own parent. I really hope she's getting proper support. Something like that would be insanely difficult to stomach as an adult. Let alone a teenager.
I also wonder just how safe she has been around him. I can't imagine a guy who'd drug a bunch of his daughter's friends was totally normal until that night.
This is a good reminder for all parents to have a safe word with their kids. Something they can innocuously include in any conversation that will immediately trigger your emergency response. This goes for non-parent/child relationships, too. College roommates, sororities, etc.
The local news here is saying events that night were a bit different than the USA Today article. The rest of your post is totally true.
Michael Jay Meyden, 57, was involved in drugging three 12-year-old girls, that were taken to a Portland hospital, during his daughter's sleepover last summer.
https://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/news/crime/lake-oswego-dad-charged-drugging-girls-sleepover/283-63f34fa7-9413-44d1-a10b-a3eeb0bbc507
There's generally three things the American justice system looks at when determining sentencing for a crime. Those things are:
1) The criminal history of the defendant. The more crimes the person has previously committed, the worse the punishment.
2) The mens rea, or intent of the crime. A more deliberate and calculated mens rea will generally be part of a more serious crime and will be sentenced harsher. Think criminally negligent homicide versus premeditated murder. People die in both, but one is considered worse.
3) The actual harm the crime brings to its victims. Generally more harm is sentenced more harshly.
He probably got off light due to them not having any evidence that he intended to do worse than simply drugging the girls (not that he didn't actually intend to do more, but that the state had no evidence that he intended more), not having a significant prior criminal history, and comparatively little permanent harm actually occurring.
Literally did everything right. Kept herself safe, did her best to protect her friends, called for help, told everyone who would listen, and then aided in getting her friends out of trouble too. And then once her friends were out, all the adults did their part in getting those girls to a hospital to make sure they were as okay as they were going to be.
If it wasn't so traumatizing, her story could be used as a case study to teach other kids and teens what to do in a similar situation.
> picked her up no questions asked
If a woman, especially a young girl, in my life contacted me about feeling unsafe because of a man, id be doing everything I could to get her out of that situation. I don't care if I have to Uber there, or call local police. I'm doing anything I can
> especially a young girl
I know what you mean, but by all mean do the exact same thing with a young boy. Nobody deserves more or less to suffer from the consequences of these horrible and dangerous bastards
Yeah, it seems he got suspicious that the 3rd girl - who repeatedly foiled his attempt to pull another girl away - wasn't *actually* asleep, so he watched her for a *while*. Sure doesn't sound like a tired father who just wanted to go to sleep to *me*.
"Meyden said he wanted them well rested for the next day" 100% bullshit story to cover child SA. I'd be really worried for the daughter if he is ever allowed to return to the home/unsupervised visits.
His wife divorced him, and he moved to a different state. Doubt he has any custody, and his daughter is probably old enough now to decide never to see him.
That’s up to the judge and the state. My middle step daughter is 16, but the judge denied her recent request to no longer have to go to her sperm donor’s every summer for his custody. Hurray for small town Texan judges.
Shits messed up, luckily I was able to get out of visitation with my "father" at 16. Even if you aren't a legally adult you shouldn't be forced to spend time with your abuser simply because your biologicaly related.
Yes, this seems insanely obvious what he was up to. He possibly got the idea [from a movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_(1998_film)). (The dad in the movie also gets caught and prosecuted.)
"So what happened in the movie? He scams a guy into paying for a bunch of stuff and gets away with it scot-free?"
"Nah, in the movie, they catch up with him a half mile down the road and slit his throat. It was a good one!"
Yeah parents have drugged their kids to sleep before and this was not like those cases.
His wife is Japanese and barely speaks English so he is the one who mad eall the arrangements. Predators love to marry foreign women who can't speak the native language and are more dependent on their spouse and cut off from the community around them. This made him able to put the girls exactly where he wanted them, when he wanted them and gave him an excuse to be present when it would typically be the mother.
He also had an entire kit they seized of scales, razor blades and benzos. This was not amateur hour or a desperate parent quickly trying to get kids to sleep. He could've given them enough to just get drowsy and calm them enough to get ready for sleep. He gave them enough that the police noted one of the girls was still disoriented TWELVE HOURS LATER. They weren't just supposed to sleep, they were supposed to sleep through a physical assault and not remember a goddamn thing
Yeah his story sounds somewhat believable if stupid, reprehensible, and jail worthy, except for the part where he kept checking on them to see if they were asleep. If getting them to sleep and being able to go to sleep himself was the main goal, then being quiet enough to assume they are asleep was plenty. Maybe walking g past the door but the coming in and looking closely and trying to move them is way suspicious. Good on that girl and the parents.
How terrifying it must have been for her as he was standing over and watching. That 15 min must have been hell! I mean what would he have done if he discovered she was awake? Also, the poor daughter. Everyone knows that her dad is a pedo know and I am sure it will follow her for some time. Kids teasing her etc. this whole situation really sucks.
Lastly kudos to the girl for responding the way she did, not just freezing. Pretty impressive for a 12 year old.
Obviously not just creeping and wild. This guy was trying to sexually assault youths that he drugged. I would have trouble not going insane on him. Imagine this poor girl thinking she can trust a friend's family, and then feels this kind of fear. The guy was just waiting to see if they were all asleep. Good riddance. He hasn't lost enough.
I'm a dad and I'm horrified of letting my kids have sleepovers. I'll have to get over it one day, but you better believe I'll do everything I can to prevent this. Good on those parents for insisting they get the other two!
I remember I had a sleepover for my birthday party. My dad told me when I was older that one of my friend's dad's came to the house the night before to absolutely grill my parents, my dad in particular. At the time, I thought it was wild but reading stories like this... I get it now.
If I ever have a daughter Id even welcome this. Ii that understanding why you're being interviewed by your daughters friends father before a sleepover is a good sign lol. Hell, I'd ask if the dad wants to hangout and help set up lol. Let the kids have a sleepover and we could have a beer in the other room
Yeah, I think the only thing that kind of weirded my dad out was that the friend's dad was a Yemeni immigrant and apparently the conversation involved vague threats and allusions to still having connections back home. Like, it's completely ok to interrogate someone who is going to be in custody of your child for a period of time, he was just a bit extra about it. Still good of him to be looking out, though.
I remember when I was in kindergarten, one of the girls in my class had a birthday party - not even a sleepover - thrown by her dad. Her mom was either not in the picture or he was a widower, I can’t remember, but we were a small town so everyone knew it was just her and her dad. I was allowed to go but only me and one other girl ended up going. I asked my parents about it years later - I was maybe 15 - and they said they struggled so badly with letting me go and that they spent the whole time driving around the block. Obviously it was perfectly innocent but I feel badly for the girl since so few kids showed up. I do understand why my parents struggled, especially after reading so many stories like these. I still think about that girl and how she was probably so confused and sad why only two of her friends showed up despite inviting all the girls in the class. Assholes like this make life for single fathers and their kids hell.
Not to exacerbate your fears, but it can happen when you least expect it. I personally know of four instances where someone I know was molested as a child by an adult they trusted. My first gf by her father at age 6, that gf's younger brother and sister at age 8 or 9 by a neighbor/friend's father (who was also molesting his own son), my best friend's nephew at around age 4 or 5 by his roommate's nephew, and a friend of my daughter's by her father starting from around age 10 until he was arrested. My daughter actually started a sleepover at the friend's house in middle school, but came home after an irreconcilable argument. We had a falling out with this family due to their bizarre behaviors, and it wasn't until after high school when my daughter reconnected with this friend that we found out her father was now in prison for molesting both of his daughters, and it had started before the events of the sleepover. When I learned that, I was floored by how close we might have come to my own daughter being molested.
So scary. Seriously defeating when you look at the number of girls, and even boys that are assaulted. And I heard that recently it's now more likely that they would be assaulted by another child than an adult...
"The warrant states police confiscated more than five bottles of [Temazepam](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/temazepam-oral-route/description/drg-20072162#:~:text=Temazepam%20is%20used%20to%20treat,slow%20down%20the%20nervous%20system.), a prescription pill used to treat insomnia per the [Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/temazepam-oral-route/description/drg-20072162#:~:text=Temazepam%20is%20used%20to%20treat,slow%20down%20the%20nervous%20system.), scales, razor blades and tools used to grind a pill into powder." His excuse of just wanting them to go to bed goes out the window when you see he came prepared.
Yeah, if he were just a "strict" asshole he would have scolded them and been, ya know, a control freak. He wouldn't have planned out the meds. He's 100% either done this before or was talking to other pedophiles on how to incapacitate victims.
A friend of Mine's dad used to do this. I met her in college and she said that when she was a kid her divorced dad used to drug her so he wouldn't have to deal with her waking up in the night and wanting to talk to him. Everytime she was there, she got so sleepy right after dinner, and woke up at noon the next day.
Eventually, her mom figured out what was going on and ended visitation.
You can only sentence a person based on what you can prove.
Sure, we can all read between the lines here, but you can't actually *prove* what he *would have done* if all three girls had been unconscious. You can't try him for a crime he didn't commit.
Yeah big props to the third girl, from putting her arm around the other girl to calling a family friend for help because the situation felt off, she did great.
Zero fucking chance he drugged them only just so they would fall asleep sooner. These aren't the actions of some guy who just wanted some peace and quiet.
That girl is a hero who likely prevented a few assaults that night.
Fuck that guy and his precious ruined life.
I feel like the journalist is taking great pains to avoid accusing him of what we all know he was planning. They can get sued which is why they always say 'allegedly' or something similar.
This man was planning on raping at least 1 of those girls, but due to the actions of one of them he was stopped. As slimy as this fucker is he can't be charged with a crime he didn't commit(not for lack of trying)
I feel like after one girl getting freaked and going home he probably lost his nerve and did nothing to the other 2 for the few hours they were there. I hope so anyways.
This information needs to be upvoted cause the posted article makes it seems like he just wanted the kids to go to sleep because they were up too late. You’re not checking 3 times and moving little girls if you just want to settle them down. Nice try creep.
The guy planned the sleepover. Wasn't like he just worked two overnights. The little girl knew in her gut that guy was up to no good. Her instincts and persistence save her friends.
Right? Like the way the article describes it, I could at least understand it. I mean, it's still absolutely wrong and stupid, but I think every parent has at some point felt "Goddamnit kid just go to sleep"
But yeah, the other explanation definitely makes it more "wrong and evil" than "wrong and stupid"
> Like the way the article describes it, I could at least understand it
Wait--let's say he's telling the truth: you can "understand" drugging middle schoolers to sleep???
Even IF that were the case, that's abuse of children. It should be obvious that you don't drug children to sleep (and what if he overdosed them and they died?), and it's not just a "stupid" thing to do but an abusive thing to do.
Reading this actually made me nauseous.
I can't understand how people like this can hide well enough to have homes, kids, host sleepovers... That is the scariest part to me. Monsters like this hiding in plain sight.
>“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”
That's what happens when you slip benzodiazepine into fruit smoothies and give them to tweens at a sleepover.
God I hate people like that, so self absorbed and selfish. My father is the same fucking way, adult children are the worst.
It’s manipulation too, crocodile tears for a pity party. Just makes them look so weak but they have no shame.
I doubt it’s the first time he’s done this. Putting your finger under a little girl’s nose to check if they are breathing?
What happens if all the girls were passed out? He could have easily just put ear plugs in and went to sleep himself. This is beyond creepy.
And in the article, his excuse was he merely wanted them to go to sleep so he could “sleep.” Uh huh. Then take the damn sleep meds yourself, you lying sack of shit.
And I'll be honest, I know if I took sleeping pills, there's likely not a 12 year old girl party on the planet that would be loud enough to keep me awake.
But why couldn't he do what my parents would do when the sleepovers got too noisy? They'd shout from their room to "keep it down and go to sleep!" Then we'd laugh, tone down the noise, and stay up for another few hours and watch some cartoons.
And in the morning, pancakes.
A much better plan in my mind.
Fucking hell, sleepovers were the absolute shit. My one friend and I literally rigged up a series of trips/alarms to know if his parents were up and about. Once we knew they were asleep, we all snuck down into the basement and played N64 until the wee hours of the night. Then his mom would make a big breakfast for us, usually pancakes like you said.
Just the absolute best of times.
Man, N64 sleepovers were the best. Just had to keep that one asshole from playing Oddjob and everything kicked ass.
MarioKart, Goldeneye, Bomberman, Smash Bros, a couple liters of Mt Dew and Pizza Rolls.
Was there anything better?
Seriously. Sleepover at buddy's place in eighth grade got too rowdy too late, his dad yelled at us and then shut off the breaker powering the Nintendo 64 when we didn't keep it quiet.
> "The girl who remained conscious told investigators that she saw Meyden try to pull one of the other girls toward the side of the bed, and she pretended she was sleeping and put her arm around the girl. Meyden came back downstairs a second time and tried to do the same thing, the girl said. When he left again, the girl texted her mom.
> When Meyden came back a third time, the girl said he stood over her and she could "feel him" watching her for 15 minutes."
"I just wanted the girls to sleep so I tried to pull one out of the bed two times, and then went into their room for a third time and stared at one for 15 minutes"
Yep, sounds believable.
Apparently he tried to kill himself in March by overdosing on the same meds he gave the girls. And his wife divorced him and has full custody of their two kids. I can’t find anything about his work life but I’m really curious what he did for a living. I seriously doubt this is the first time for an opportunist like this.
Who gives a fuck about his life at his big age. He just traumatized these girls and their families for life. There won’t be any more sleepovers in their future, their parents will be side eyeing everyone they come in contact with, their siblings will be more sheltered. Not to mention his own kids.
The first time I had a sleep over (except for the ones at school because my parents couldn't convince the teachers and principal that I mustn't attend) was when I was in university. My dad was deathly afraid that I would get sexually assaulted (he used to work in a parapolice force and he saw gruesome stuff).
> “My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”
His life is destroyed because he got caught committing a crime. He brought this on himself.
“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”
Now whose fault is that, you moron?
What about his daughter who he also drugged? What about her life? What about her friends? Or their parents. I’m actually really concerned about his daughter. So if there’s any information about her being safe that would be a great relief
Good, I know she spoke limited English so I was hoping some explained exactly what happened to her in Japanese so she could get the heck out of there too.
He told other parents that the reason he planned all his daughter’s activities was because she spoke limited English but that is not the case. She taught English in Japan, has a degree from USC, and teaches locally. He was using it as an excuse to be more involved with his daughter’s friends.
2 years isn’t enough. He’s going to do this again to someone he knows or doesn’t, his intentions are screaming loudly, it’s sad we can’t do more against sexual abusers like this. Piece of shit
I'm kind of curious if he's done it before with other girls, and this is just the time he got caught. It sounds like he knew what he was doing and what to look for.
Anytime my kids had sleepovers, I figured they would be up late. I never even joked of giving them benadryl or anything; it never occurred to me. Kids have sleepovers, they get to sleep when they are able to, which may be quite late. You just set the rules and let them have their time together.
This guy destroyed his own life. What was important to him was, probably, having sex with a minor.
I had sleepovers quite a few times when I was younger. We often pulled all-nighters. It was kinda like an expectation that we were gonna stay up super late playing games and stuff.
First comment I am seeing about the daughters impact. So very sad for her to be let down like this and have to deal with the consequences. I hope she did not think he was a good dad, and instead this was absolutely the final straw in their already strained relationship. Regardless, her social image has been tarnished beyond repair. Fuck his wasted life.
She is a rarely mentioned part of this story. I wonder if she was left to stay with her father that night, what her relationship with him is like... I worry about that aspect of course, but the social affect this will have on her will likely last a very long time. My heart absolutely breaks for her every time this story comes up again.
He’s getting off incredibly easy. I can’t believe the court bought the “I was just trying to get them to go to bed excuse.” He wouldn’t have been touching them and checking if they were really passed out unless he had other plans.
I would be beyond pissed if I found out the parent of one of my daughter’s friends laced smoothies with sleeping drugs. 2 years? Our justice system is a joke!!
And he planned the sleep over too apparently. It's so obvious what happened, and what could have happened.
And he'll go get "punished" for two years, and then be released back out there to do whatever with even less to lose than before, when what he actually needs is possibly life long, court-monitored psychiatric counseling.
And the one friend intentionally didn’t drink the drink and sneakily stayed up to keep an eye out and immediately contacted her family when he did something suspicious. Definitely not the first time he did something creepy
If I have kids, that book is gonna be required reading for suuure.
It's really hard to act on those gut feelings, gotta keep in mind that potentially hurting somebody's feelings is worth it in order to keep yourself safe, every damn time.
Yup, smart kid. Saved herself and her friends (and who knows who else) from torment over the next little while. Although that little while isn’t even remotely long enough..
2 years seems like just a cool off period so the parents don't go vigilanty on him. Drugging and planning to rape people's daughters is a good way to get people to circumvent the judicial system.
> I can’t believe the court bought the “I was just trying to get them to go to bed excuse.”
They didn't "buy it" the standard to convict is very high.
While we all know that, yeah, he was gonna SA them, prosecutors have to be able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt, and since he had only touched their arms and other innocuous stuff by the time the girls were rescued, there's not a lot of evidence for attempted rape. It's not like he was acquitted of attempted rape, they didn't even try charging him.
Our system attempts to prevent wrongly convicting people at the cost of letting some guilty people go.
At least he's still going to prison, and everyone with a brain will know he's dangerous.
I don't believe his story for one second. You don't get a bunch of 12-year-olds together and then assume they are going to go to sleep early so when they don't you drug them and then go and check to make sure the drugs have taken effect. Wasn't the point so you could get some sleep? So why are you still awake checking sleeping children for whether they are awake, if you stopped hearing noises and the lights are out then you can sleep now, you don't need to go and check their breathing and moving body parts to see if it wakes them, it just doesn't add up, that defeats your whole purpose, unless you're lying.
He was just checking to make sure that the force wouldn't wake her, so she was sleeping hard enough to be out through an earthquake, or squeaky bed springs and stuff. So she'd be super well rested in the morning. Y'know, very normal things...
>Meyden laced fruit smoothies with a sleeping medication, authorities said. Two of the friends drank the smoothies and eventually passed out. A third girl didn’t want the drink and alerted a family friend by text message after she saw Meyden return to make sure the girls were asleep. He moved the arm of one girl and the body of another and put his finger under one’s nose to see if she was asleep.
I highly doubt his plan ended with making sure the girls were asleep. I’d bet dollars to donuts his plan was to do something nefarious once they were all knocked out.
That is just…..disgusting. To do this to ANYONE is terrible, but your own DAUGHTER?!? Dude is seriously sick and needs to spend the rest of his life in prison
Wild that in America if you are choosing to drug yourself you can go to jail for decades but if you force a bunch of children to take benzos by spiking their smoothies, you only get two years.
["Part of his culture"](http://newsweek.com/spain-child-rape-sex-assault-verdicts-acquittal-romani-roma-gypsy-1907576), but yeah.
> Last week, the Provincial Court of Ciudad Real acquitted a 20-year-old man who impregnated a 12-year-old Romani girl with twins in 2022. Despite Spanish law prohibiting minors under 16 from consenting to sex, the court ruled that the man should be granted a legal exception.
> The court found the intercourse was "consensual," justifying the decision by stating, "in Romani culture, this is normal behavior." The defendant reportedly believed the girl was older, discovering her true age only when they visited the doctor for the pregnancy.
> Upon discovering the pregnancy, Spanish law mandated a medical and criminal investigation, leading to the man's arrest. The prosecutor sought a prison sentence of 11 years and six months for continuous sexual abuse of a minor under 16.
> However, the provincial court delivered a full acquittal, saying "there was no controversy" since the relationship fell within the Romani community's cultural norms, where sexual intercourse and marriage can be common at a young age.
"“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”"
Maybe he should have thought of that before being a Selfish creepy scumbag? After reading the actual details, the dude was honestly planning a lot more.
everything I have heard about this situation has disgusted me. that man was planning something very sinister based on how he not only drugged them but used different straws in their drinks to gage who would've drank the most. the girl who stayed up and felt that man move her away from her friend then called her family saved her peers from that monster. the details in this situation leave no room for doubt that he wasn't planning something horrific and he deserves every minute he spends in prison.
If he gives them different colored straws he'd know who's cups are who's even if left unattended. If he gives one girl a red straw and another a blue straw and later sees that the red straw cup is empty and the blue straw cup is half full he knows the girl with the red straw will be more strongly affected. Really fucking weird and premeditated
> Two of the friends drank the smoothies and eventually passed out. A third girl didn’t want the drink and alerted a family friend by text message after she saw Meyden return to make sure the girls were asleep. He moved the arm of one girl and the body of another and put his finger under one’s nose to see if she was asleep.
fuck that's soo creepy
I have two girls, and I’ve always told them (and will continue to tell them) that they can always *always* call me if they feel unsafe no matter when, where, or the decisions that lead to it. Can’t have a kid (especially a girl) not asking for help because they are worried about getting in trouble
Thank god for the one little girl who wouldn’t drink it, faked being asleep, reached out for help, and ended up saving all of them. She’s incredible and her parents should be overwhelmingly proud of her, and of themselves for raising such a smart and strong girl. 💪
I was prescribed Benzos for the first time in my 30s. Even a half dose, which was HALF of a single milligram, knocked me on my ass and had me asleep for several hours every time. 😳 They also erase your memory. I kept having panic attacks and ended up feeling like I was living in the movie Memento because of the missing days. 🥴 This POS knew *exactly* what he was doing. He just wasn’t anticipating his daughter being friends with Veronica Mars Jr. 😎
I'm still in shock that this guy went through with something that stupid. He can't possibly believe that he could get away clean after drugging a bunch of kids. The first girl to say to her parents "I got woozy and don't remember what happened" and it's either a call to the cops or dad coming over with his scattergun.
Perverts, famously, not known for their intelligence. Hence the continued flood of "have a seat over there"s even after To Catch a Predator had been on the air for a couple years.
Man, even if it *was* just a way to get happily active 12 year old girls to go to sleep so he could go to bed, slipping sleeping medication to children is *not* the way to go. Leaving aside the predatory aspect, you don't medicate someone else's child.
Hard stop.
And then of course there's this creepy aspect of touching the girls while they're asleep or standing there staring for fifteen minutes, Everything about this is wrong, and that's before we get to the predatory aspect which makes it so much worse.
I am glad he got jail time for this crime.
Man I knew parents who bought their 12, 13 and 14 year olds and their friends alcohol. At that age you’re like ‘your mom is so cool’ but later you realize she’s an idiot.
Growing up my parents were strict, and one of their rules was "no sleepovers". I hated it so much and resented them bitterly for it. I always felt so left out. As I'm getting older, and possibly having kids of my own these days, I'm understanding it more and more.
....2 years. For poisoning plus whatever happened to those girls after the sober one left. Hopefully he was spooked enough to have resisted doing anything, but holy hell those kids *and* their parents will be permanently affected by this. I wonder if this was a one off or if his daughter has been subjected to this tactic already.
>but they didn’t go to bed by 11pm as he wanted. Meyden said he wanted them well rested for the next day.
Go to sleep by 11? It's a sleepover!
A mother shared with my wife once, their daughter is not allowed at sleepovers because this happened to her. This mother decided not to tell her husband.....who is a FBI agent. Blows my mind.
Just for a little more context, this is how the one girl who *didn't* drink the laced smoothies described what happened next: > The girl who remained conscious told investigators that she saw Meyden try to pull one of the other girls toward the side of the bed, and she pretended she was sleeping and put her arm around the girl. Meyden came back downstairs a second time and tried to do the same thing, the girl said. When he left again, the girl texted her mom. > When Meyden came back a third time, the girl said he stood over her and she could "feel him" watching her for 15 minutes. Also, the third girl and her parents are heroes: > When she was able to get in touch with a family friend, she told the friend she felt "unsafe because of her friend's dad" and the friend agreed to pick her up. > When she was taken home, the girl woke up her parents and explained what happened. Her parents tried contacting the parents of the girls still at the sleepover and could not get a hold of them. > At 3 a.m., the girl's parents went back to Meyden's home and picked up the other two girls. Meyden was "evasive" and told them to come back in the morning. > The girl's parents persisted and were able to pick up the girls and take them to their homes. Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/05/michael-meyden-oregon-dad-drugging-sleepover-girls-charges/72842406007/
That girl is a hero. And the friend that picked her up no questions asked is a saint. Good on the parents for going back for the other girls too. I don't know if they were able to stop everything. But the amount of damage they prevented cannot be overstated. Plus that girl's witness testimony was probably what put that monster away. I know it's hard to feel good after something like that. But I hope that girl, her friend, and her parents know that they did the right thing, and helped a lot of people out of a dangerous situation. I hope everyone involved is healing the best they can.
I’m hoping he got spooked after the conscious girl was picked up and didn’t try anything after, at least for a while until her parents came back and picked up the other two.
I am hoping that since the girls went to a station for testing, that they were also able to rule out some of the more egregious (noticeable) offenses a person could do to an unconscious person. And as you said, hopefully, "just in case", this guy decided it best to not try anything further in the interim.
They went to a hospital, where they were all found to have benzos in their system… they also found evidence in a mortar & pestle, used to grind the meds up, scales & a razor blade containing the same substance. So after everyone LOLed at his excuse of “just wanting them to be well-rested for the next day” & “to have them fall asleep so that he could fall asleep” - luckily one girl did not care for the mango smoothies & therefore stayed alert enough to monitor his behaviour & now the man is going to jail (not for long enough, but at least at all)…
"Wanted them to be rested" my ass.
You can almost bet on it. I'm so glad this story didn't turn out like the headline made me think it would. I'm glad none of the girls overdosed, too.
I feel really bad for the daughter. Now she will be known as "the girl whose father drugged her friends and tried to rape them at a sleepover". I really hope she gets proper help and still has her friends after all of this.
It's worse because she will eventually start wondering about every other night she slept soundly before this.
I can't imagine the guilt. The idea that you were used as bait for something so heinous. The idea your own father was capable of all of this, and using you. The idea of how close one or more of your friends were to being assaulted, or the possibility that you may have also been targeted by your own parent. I really hope she's getting proper support. Something like that would be insanely difficult to stomach as an adult. Let alone a teenager.
I agree, but maybe she’s been saved as well. Poor kid. Who knows what’s been happening at home?
I also wonder just how safe she has been around him. I can't imagine a guy who'd drug a bunch of his daughter's friends was totally normal until that night.
This is a good reminder for all parents to have a safe word with their kids. Something they can innocuously include in any conversation that will immediately trigger your emergency response. This goes for non-parent/child relationships, too. College roommates, sororities, etc.
I'm trying to think, when I was 12, would I have the wherewithal to do what she did?
The local news here is saying events that night were a bit different than the USA Today article. The rest of your post is totally true. Michael Jay Meyden, 57, was involved in drugging three 12-year-old girls, that were taken to a Portland hospital, during his daughter's sleepover last summer. https://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/news/crime/lake-oswego-dad-charged-drugging-girls-sleepover/283-63f34fa7-9413-44d1-a10b-a3eeb0bbc507
2 years??!??
There's generally three things the American justice system looks at when determining sentencing for a crime. Those things are: 1) The criminal history of the defendant. The more crimes the person has previously committed, the worse the punishment. 2) The mens rea, or intent of the crime. A more deliberate and calculated mens rea will generally be part of a more serious crime and will be sentenced harsher. Think criminally negligent homicide versus premeditated murder. People die in both, but one is considered worse. 3) The actual harm the crime brings to its victims. Generally more harm is sentenced more harshly. He probably got off light due to them not having any evidence that he intended to do worse than simply drugging the girls (not that he didn't actually intend to do more, but that the state had no evidence that he intended more), not having a significant prior criminal history, and comparatively little permanent harm actually occurring.
A hero with some serious trust issues, I imagine. Poor kid. She handled this ridiculously stressful situation very well.
Literally did everything right. Kept herself safe, did her best to protect her friends, called for help, told everyone who would listen, and then aided in getting her friends out of trouble too. And then once her friends were out, all the adults did their part in getting those girls to a hospital to make sure they were as okay as they were going to be. If it wasn't so traumatizing, her story could be used as a case study to teach other kids and teens what to do in a similar situation.
Thank goodness also for the sensibility of taking her ti a hospital and uncovering the benz
> I don't know if they were able to stop everything. But the amount of damage they prevented cannot be understated. Cannot be overstated, you mean.
Correct. Fixed it. Thanks.
> picked her up no questions asked If a woman, especially a young girl, in my life contacted me about feeling unsafe because of a man, id be doing everything I could to get her out of that situation. I don't care if I have to Uber there, or call local police. I'm doing anything I can
> especially a young girl I know what you mean, but by all mean do the exact same thing with a young boy. Nobody deserves more or less to suffer from the consequences of these horrible and dangerous bastards
Yes, absolutely. While girls are more at risk that doesn't means boys aren't at risk too. If any child needs help like this then you help
15mins is of creeping is wild
Yeah, it seems he got suspicious that the 3rd girl - who repeatedly foiled his attempt to pull another girl away - wasn't *actually* asleep, so he watched her for a *while*. Sure doesn't sound like a tired father who just wanted to go to sleep to *me*.
Everyone with half a brain knows what he was trying to do.
"Meyden said he wanted them well rested for the next day" 100% bullshit story to cover child SA. I'd be really worried for the daughter if he is ever allowed to return to the home/unsupervised visits.
His wife divorced him, and he moved to a different state. Doubt he has any custody, and his daughter is probably old enough now to decide never to see him.
That’s up to the judge and the state. My middle step daughter is 16, but the judge denied her recent request to no longer have to go to her sperm donor’s every summer for his custody. Hurray for small town Texan judges.
Shits messed up, luckily I was able to get out of visitation with my "father" at 16. Even if you aren't a legally adult you shouldn't be forced to spend time with your abuser simply because your biologicaly related.
What happens if your step daughter refuses to go? Do the police come round and drag her there?
Yes, this seems insanely obvious what he was up to. He possibly got the idea [from a movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_(1998_film)). (The dad in the movie also gets caught and prosecuted.)
"So what happened in the movie? He scams a guy into paying for a bunch of stuff and gets away with it scot-free?" "Nah, in the movie, they catch up with him a half mile down the road and slit his throat. It was a good one!"
"Man I really have to pee"
Yeah parents have drugged their kids to sleep before and this was not like those cases. His wife is Japanese and barely speaks English so he is the one who mad eall the arrangements. Predators love to marry foreign women who can't speak the native language and are more dependent on their spouse and cut off from the community around them. This made him able to put the girls exactly where he wanted them, when he wanted them and gave him an excuse to be present when it would typically be the mother. He also had an entire kit they seized of scales, razor blades and benzos. This was not amateur hour or a desperate parent quickly trying to get kids to sleep. He could've given them enough to just get drowsy and calm them enough to get ready for sleep. He gave them enough that the police noted one of the girls was still disoriented TWELVE HOURS LATER. They weren't just supposed to sleep, they were supposed to sleep through a physical assault and not remember a goddamn thing
By the way, this is a great movie. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone IRL or they may give you really weird looks after. Lol
Yeah his story sounds somewhat believable if stupid, reprehensible, and jail worthy, except for the part where he kept checking on them to see if they were asleep. If getting them to sleep and being able to go to sleep himself was the main goal, then being quiet enough to assume they are asleep was plenty. Maybe walking g past the door but the coming in and looking closely and trying to move them is way suspicious. Good on that girl and the parents.
Yeah I'm getting the sinking feeling he would have done other horrible things had she not stopped him.
How terrifying it must have been for her as he was standing over and watching. That 15 min must have been hell! I mean what would he have done if he discovered she was awake? Also, the poor daughter. Everyone knows that her dad is a pedo know and I am sure it will follow her for some time. Kids teasing her etc. this whole situation really sucks. Lastly kudos to the girl for responding the way she did, not just freezing. Pretty impressive for a 12 year old.
Obviously not just creeping and wild. This guy was trying to sexually assault youths that he drugged. I would have trouble not going insane on him. Imagine this poor girl thinking she can trust a friend's family, and then feels this kind of fear. The guy was just waiting to see if they were all asleep. Good riddance. He hasn't lost enough. I'm a dad and I'm horrified of letting my kids have sleepovers. I'll have to get over it one day, but you better believe I'll do everything I can to prevent this. Good on those parents for insisting they get the other two!
I remember I had a sleepover for my birthday party. My dad told me when I was older that one of my friend's dad's came to the house the night before to absolutely grill my parents, my dad in particular. At the time, I thought it was wild but reading stories like this... I get it now.
If I ever have a daughter Id even welcome this. Ii that understanding why you're being interviewed by your daughters friends father before a sleepover is a good sign lol. Hell, I'd ask if the dad wants to hangout and help set up lol. Let the kids have a sleepover and we could have a beer in the other room
Yeah, I think the only thing that kind of weirded my dad out was that the friend's dad was a Yemeni immigrant and apparently the conversation involved vague threats and allusions to still having connections back home. Like, it's completely ok to interrogate someone who is going to be in custody of your child for a period of time, he was just a bit extra about it. Still good of him to be looking out, though.
I remember when I was in kindergarten, one of the girls in my class had a birthday party - not even a sleepover - thrown by her dad. Her mom was either not in the picture or he was a widower, I can’t remember, but we were a small town so everyone knew it was just her and her dad. I was allowed to go but only me and one other girl ended up going. I asked my parents about it years later - I was maybe 15 - and they said they struggled so badly with letting me go and that they spent the whole time driving around the block. Obviously it was perfectly innocent but I feel badly for the girl since so few kids showed up. I do understand why my parents struggled, especially after reading so many stories like these. I still think about that girl and how she was probably so confused and sad why only two of her friends showed up despite inviting all the girls in the class. Assholes like this make life for single fathers and their kids hell.
Not to exacerbate your fears, but it can happen when you least expect it. I personally know of four instances where someone I know was molested as a child by an adult they trusted. My first gf by her father at age 6, that gf's younger brother and sister at age 8 or 9 by a neighbor/friend's father (who was also molesting his own son), my best friend's nephew at around age 4 or 5 by his roommate's nephew, and a friend of my daughter's by her father starting from around age 10 until he was arrested. My daughter actually started a sleepover at the friend's house in middle school, but came home after an irreconcilable argument. We had a falling out with this family due to their bizarre behaviors, and it wasn't until after high school when my daughter reconnected with this friend that we found out her father was now in prison for molesting both of his daughters, and it had started before the events of the sleepover. When I learned that, I was floored by how close we might have come to my own daughter being molested.
So scary. Seriously defeating when you look at the number of girls, and even boys that are assaulted. And I heard that recently it's now more likely that they would be assaulted by another child than an adult...
Building up his courage and making sure they are unconscious.
"The warrant states police confiscated more than five bottles of [Temazepam](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/temazepam-oral-route/description/drg-20072162#:~:text=Temazepam%20is%20used%20to%20treat,slow%20down%20the%20nervous%20system.), a prescription pill used to treat insomnia per the [Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/temazepam-oral-route/description/drg-20072162#:~:text=Temazepam%20is%20used%20to%20treat,slow%20down%20the%20nervous%20system.), scales, razor blades and tools used to grind a pill into powder." His excuse of just wanting them to go to bed goes out the window when you see he came prepared.
Yeah, if he were just a "strict" asshole he would have scolded them and been, ya know, a control freak. He wouldn't have planned out the meds. He's 100% either done this before or was talking to other pedophiles on how to incapacitate victims.
A friend of Mine's dad used to do this. I met her in college and she said that when she was a kid her divorced dad used to drug her so he wouldn't have to deal with her waking up in the night and wanting to talk to him. Everytime she was there, she got so sleepy right after dinner, and woke up at noon the next day. Eventually, her mom figured out what was going on and ended visitation.
Fucking horrifying.
With that kind of premeditation and planning I'm sad the sentence was only 2 years.
You can only sentence a person based on what you can prove. Sure, we can all read between the lines here, but you can't actually *prove* what he *would have done* if all three girls had been unconscious. You can't try him for a crime he didn't commit.
Agreed - I was reacting emotionally as a parent, not legally or as a juror. You are correct.
Oh my god wtf this is sick. It gave me the chills. That girl did such a brave and heroic thing I can only imagine the trauma she endured.
Yeah big props to the third girl, from putting her arm around the other girl to calling a family friend for help because the situation felt off, she did great.
Zero fucking chance he drugged them only just so they would fall asleep sooner. These aren't the actions of some guy who just wanted some peace and quiet. That girl is a hero who likely prevented a few assaults that night. Fuck that guy and his precious ruined life.
I feel like the journalist is taking great pains to avoid accusing him of what we all know he was planning. They can get sued which is why they always say 'allegedly' or something similar. This man was planning on raping at least 1 of those girls, but due to the actions of one of them he was stopped. As slimy as this fucker is he can't be charged with a crime he didn't commit(not for lack of trying) I feel like after one girl getting freaked and going home he probably lost his nerve and did nothing to the other 2 for the few hours they were there. I hope so anyways.
This information needs to be upvoted cause the posted article makes it seems like he just wanted the kids to go to sleep because they were up too late. You’re not checking 3 times and moving little girls if you just want to settle them down. Nice try creep.
Also, even if he WAS just desperate for sleep, benzos in smoothies for 12yos is not the right play.
The guy planned the sleepover. Wasn't like he just worked two overnights. The little girl knew in her gut that guy was up to no good. Her instincts and persistence save her friends.
That's clearly a bs story he made up. If he wanted everyone to go to sleep why would he keep going into the room when they appeared to be asleep?
Right? Like the way the article describes it, I could at least understand it. I mean, it's still absolutely wrong and stupid, but I think every parent has at some point felt "Goddamnit kid just go to sleep" But yeah, the other explanation definitely makes it more "wrong and evil" than "wrong and stupid"
> Like the way the article describes it, I could at least understand it Wait--let's say he's telling the truth: you can "understand" drugging middle schoolers to sleep??? Even IF that were the case, that's abuse of children. It should be obvious that you don't drug children to sleep (and what if he overdosed them and they died?), and it's not just a "stupid" thing to do but an abusive thing to do.
That's fucking nightmare fuel
That guy was going to rape them and 2 years isn’t enough. Guaranteed he will be in the news again. Hope his daughter gets far away before he’s out.
Reading this actually made me nauseous. I can't understand how people like this can hide well enough to have homes, kids, host sleepovers... That is the scariest part to me. Monsters like this hiding in plain sight.
And the family has money. Lake Oswego is the most-affluent part of the Portland metro area
oh, what a rollercoaster. so he was definitely perving.
Fuckin heroes, bet those other parents are extremely grateful. And i hope this dude has the friendliest bunkmate in whatever prison he ends up in.
>“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.” That's what happens when you slip benzodiazepine into fruit smoothies and give them to tweens at a sleepover.
He thinks he's the victim here.
Seems to be a symbol of the times.
God I hate people like that, so self absorbed and selfish. My father is the same fucking way, adult children are the worst. It’s manipulation too, crocodile tears for a pity party. Just makes them look so weak but they have no shame.
exactly why my father hasn’t heard from me in 3 years. Nothing worse than feeling like shit for something you shouldn’t
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I doubt it’s the first time he’s done this. Putting your finger under a little girl’s nose to check if they are breathing? What happens if all the girls were passed out? He could have easily just put ear plugs in and went to sleep himself. This is beyond creepy.
And in the article, his excuse was he merely wanted them to go to sleep so he could “sleep.” Uh huh. Then take the damn sleep meds yourself, you lying sack of shit.
And I'll be honest, I know if I took sleeping pills, there's likely not a 12 year old girl party on the planet that would be loud enough to keep me awake. But why couldn't he do what my parents would do when the sleepovers got too noisy? They'd shout from their room to "keep it down and go to sleep!" Then we'd laugh, tone down the noise, and stay up for another few hours and watch some cartoons. And in the morning, pancakes. A much better plan in my mind.
Fucking hell, sleepovers were the absolute shit. My one friend and I literally rigged up a series of trips/alarms to know if his parents were up and about. Once we knew they were asleep, we all snuck down into the basement and played N64 until the wee hours of the night. Then his mom would make a big breakfast for us, usually pancakes like you said. Just the absolute best of times.
Man, N64 sleepovers were the best. Just had to keep that one asshole from playing Oddjob and everything kicked ass. MarioKart, Goldeneye, Bomberman, Smash Bros, a couple liters of Mt Dew and Pizza Rolls. Was there anything better?
Seriously. Sleepover at buddy's place in eighth grade got too rowdy too late, his dad yelled at us and then shut off the breaker powering the Nintendo 64 when we didn't keep it quiet.
Exactly my experience with every sleepover I went to. We all followed that script and my memories of those parties are pure bliss.
Crying with laughter at Mad Magazine madlibs and waking up the friends parents. And to think we were only 27
> "The girl who remained conscious told investigators that she saw Meyden try to pull one of the other girls toward the side of the bed, and she pretended she was sleeping and put her arm around the girl. Meyden came back downstairs a second time and tried to do the same thing, the girl said. When he left again, the girl texted her mom. > When Meyden came back a third time, the girl said he stood over her and she could "feel him" watching her for 15 minutes." "I just wanted the girls to sleep so I tried to pull one out of the bed two times, and then went into their room for a third time and stared at one for 15 minutes" Yep, sounds believable.
There are many stories that make us realize how close each of us are to fucking up our lives. This is not one of those stories.
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Imagine that! HIS life is destroyed????
I mean...he's not wrong... He absolutely deserved it.
Oh no! The consequences of my actions!
And then go down to make sure they're asleep / alive by touching them and moving them around while they're unconscious.
Apparently he tried to kill himself in March by overdosing on the same meds he gave the girls. And his wife divorced him and has full custody of their two kids. I can’t find anything about his work life but I’m really curious what he did for a living. I seriously doubt this is the first time for an opportunist like this.
Who gives a fuck about his life at his big age. He just traumatized these girls and their families for life. There won’t be any more sleepovers in their future, their parents will be side eyeing everyone they come in contact with, their siblings will be more sheltered. Not to mention his own kids.
Yep. He probably created generational trauma. Those girls won’t be letting their own kids go to sleepovers when the time comes.
The first time I had a sleep over (except for the ones at school because my parents couldn't convince the teachers and principal that I mustn't attend) was when I was in university. My dad was deathly afraid that I would get sexually assaulted (he used to work in a parapolice force and he saw gruesome stuff).
Like these kids came this close to being raped in their sleep and they know it. How do you ever feel safe again after that?
“The guilt is something I have to live with everyday.” -- Him, probably
"I've suffered enough, and I've already forgiven myself."
"God forgave me, why can't you?"
What a piece of shit
lmao that fuckin guy... get fucked asshole GOODBYE
> “My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.” His life is destroyed because he got caught committing a crime. He brought this on himself.
I hate to think what his daughter has to endure now too. To be known at school as the girl whose dad did that? God, that's got to be awful.
Yeah and her mom doesn’t speak English. Imagine how isolating that would be
Poor guy. All he intended to do was irreparably harm those children
And you just *know* this dude has done this shit before and would have done it again. Cry me a fucking river
“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.” Now whose fault is that, you moron?
It is all about him and how he has suffered.
What about his daughter who he also drugged? What about her life? What about her friends? Or their parents. I’m actually really concerned about his daughter. So if there’s any information about her being safe that would be a great relief
I believe his wife divorced him and has custody of their children.
Good, I know she spoke limited English so I was hoping some explained exactly what happened to her in Japanese so she could get the heck out of there too.
He told other parents that the reason he planned all his daughter’s activities was because she spoke limited English but that is not the case. She taught English in Japan, has a degree from USC, and teaches locally. He was using it as an excuse to be more involved with his daughter’s friends.
Ok that kind of makes me feel better. I was worried he was exploiting some poor lady who was in a strange country with limited English comprehension.
2 years isn’t enough. He’s going to do this again to someone he knows or doesn’t, his intentions are screaming loudly, it’s sad we can’t do more against sexual abusers like this. Piece of shit
I'm kind of curious if he's done it before with other girls, and this is just the time he got caught. It sounds like he knew what he was doing and what to look for.
Anytime my kids had sleepovers, I figured they would be up late. I never even joked of giving them benadryl or anything; it never occurred to me. Kids have sleepovers, they get to sleep when they are able to, which may be quite late. You just set the rules and let them have their time together. This guy destroyed his own life. What was important to him was, probably, having sex with a minor.
I had sleepovers quite a few times when I was younger. We often pulled all-nighters. It was kinda like an expectation that we were gonna stay up super late playing games and stuff.
Yeah when you’re a sociopath you only care about yourself.
I feel so bad for his daughter. I hope she wasn’t ostracized or outcast because of her dad.
First comment I am seeing about the daughters impact. So very sad for her to be let down like this and have to deal with the consequences. I hope she did not think he was a good dad, and instead this was absolutely the final straw in their already strained relationship. Regardless, her social image has been tarnished beyond repair. Fuck his wasted life.
He could’ve been drugging her too all this time.
You'd have a hard time convincing me he's not. He knew how to hide it, he had a whole procedure to test if they were truly asleep.
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She is a rarely mentioned part of this story. I wonder if she was left to stay with her father that night, what her relationship with him is like... I worry about that aspect of course, but the social affect this will have on her will likely last a very long time. My heart absolutely breaks for her every time this story comes up again.
He’s getting off incredibly easy. I can’t believe the court bought the “I was just trying to get them to go to bed excuse.” He wouldn’t have been touching them and checking if they were really passed out unless he had other plans.
I would be beyond pissed if I found out the parent of one of my daughter’s friends laced smoothies with sleeping drugs. 2 years? Our justice system is a joke!!
And he planned the sleep over too apparently. It's so obvious what happened, and what could have happened. And he'll go get "punished" for two years, and then be released back out there to do whatever with even less to lose than before, when what he actually needs is possibly life long, court-monitored psychiatric counseling.
And the one friend intentionally didn’t drink the drink and sneakily stayed up to keep an eye out and immediately contacted her family when he did something suspicious. Definitely not the first time he did something creepy
Definitely some Gift of Fear type stuff there. He was for sure giving some signals that thankfully one of was able to pick up on.
If I have kids, that book is gonna be required reading for suuure. It's really hard to act on those gut feelings, gotta keep in mind that potentially hurting somebody's feelings is worth it in order to keep yourself safe, every damn time.
Yup, smart kid. Saved herself and her friends (and who knows who else) from torment over the next little while. Although that little while isn’t even remotely long enough..
> beyond pissed yeah if I suspected some dude was sexually assaulting my daughter that would really irk me
Yeah, downright MIFFED, even!
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2 years seems like just a cool off period so the parents don't go vigilanty on him. Drugging and planning to rape people's daughters is a good way to get people to circumvent the judicial system.
> I can’t believe the court bought the “I was just trying to get them to go to bed excuse.” They didn't "buy it" the standard to convict is very high. While we all know that, yeah, he was gonna SA them, prosecutors have to be able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt, and since he had only touched their arms and other innocuous stuff by the time the girls were rescued, there's not a lot of evidence for attempted rape. It's not like he was acquitted of attempted rape, they didn't even try charging him. Our system attempts to prevent wrongly convicting people at the cost of letting some guilty people go. At least he's still going to prison, and everyone with a brain will know he's dangerous.
I don't believe his story for one second. You don't get a bunch of 12-year-olds together and then assume they are going to go to sleep early so when they don't you drug them and then go and check to make sure the drugs have taken effect. Wasn't the point so you could get some sleep? So why are you still awake checking sleeping children for whether they are awake, if you stopped hearing noises and the lights are out then you can sleep now, you don't need to go and check their breathing and moving body parts to see if it wakes them, it just doesn't add up, that defeats your whole purpose, unless you're lying.
He also drug once of them to the edge of the bed. I can't believe he just wanted a good night's sleep.
He was just checking to make sure that the force wouldn't wake her, so she was sleeping hard enough to be out through an earthquake, or squeaky bed springs and stuff. So she'd be super well rested in the morning. Y'know, very normal things...
He just wanted them to go to bed, that's why he preemptively had a controlled substance on hand. CHECK THIS MAN'S HARD DRIVE FFS.
Why did he only get 2 years? I hate the justice system.
Plea deal and a lack of evidence for any other more serious crimes.
>Meyden laced fruit smoothies with a sleeping medication, authorities said. Two of the friends drank the smoothies and eventually passed out. A third girl didn’t want the drink and alerted a family friend by text message after she saw Meyden return to make sure the girls were asleep. He moved the arm of one girl and the body of another and put his finger under one’s nose to see if she was asleep. I highly doubt his plan ended with making sure the girls were asleep. I’d bet dollars to donuts his plan was to do something nefarious once they were all knocked out.
Oh absolutely. You wouldn’t fucking drug kids at a sleepover to get them to go to sleep. Just let them stay up and go to bed.
A sleepover you planned, no less
The most incriminating part
Especially when he supposedly planned the sleepover. It all just feels extremely obvious he was up to something from the outset
That is just…..disgusting. To do this to ANYONE is terrible, but your own DAUGHTER?!? Dude is seriously sick and needs to spend the rest of his life in prison
I would bet anything he was fixated on a specific friend of his daughter's, American Beauty style
Wild that in America if you are choosing to drug yourself you can go to jail for decades but if you force a bunch of children to take benzos by spiking their smoothies, you only get two years.
Not just America, dude in Spain I believe just got acquitted for rape / sexual assault because he claimed it was part of his religion.
["Part of his culture"](http://newsweek.com/spain-child-rape-sex-assault-verdicts-acquittal-romani-roma-gypsy-1907576), but yeah. > Last week, the Provincial Court of Ciudad Real acquitted a 20-year-old man who impregnated a 12-year-old Romani girl with twins in 2022. Despite Spanish law prohibiting minors under 16 from consenting to sex, the court ruled that the man should be granted a legal exception. > The court found the intercourse was "consensual," justifying the decision by stating, "in Romani culture, this is normal behavior." The defendant reportedly believed the girl was older, discovering her true age only when they visited the doctor for the pregnancy. > Upon discovering the pregnancy, Spanish law mandated a medical and criminal investigation, leading to the man's arrest. The prosecutor sought a prison sentence of 11 years and six months for continuous sexual abuse of a minor under 16. > However, the provincial court delivered a full acquittal, saying "there was no controversy" since the relationship fell within the Romani community's cultural norms, where sexual intercourse and marriage can be common at a young age.
"What's that? Your culture has been abusing kids for generations? Oh, I guess it's fine to keep doing that, then."
"But your honor, we are *all* pedophiles!" is a wild excuse.
One that worked.
2 years for this and people are still in prison for weed.
Hell that lady in Fargo is facing 30 years for bong water
wait whhaaat? edit: Cops also stole her legally acquired 2k. https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/06/10/fargo-woman-facing-30-years-in-prison-for-bong-water/
If he sold the kids the pills he probably would have gotten more time
Holy fucking shit. You are not wrong.
"“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”" Maybe he should have thought of that before being a Selfish creepy scumbag? After reading the actual details, the dude was honestly planning a lot more.
So THIS is why my mom never let me have sleepovers as a child.
everything I have heard about this situation has disgusted me. that man was planning something very sinister based on how he not only drugged them but used different straws in their drinks to gage who would've drank the most. the girl who stayed up and felt that man move her away from her friend then called her family saved her peers from that monster. the details in this situation leave no room for doubt that he wasn't planning something horrific and he deserves every minute he spends in prison.
Wait how did using different straws help him? I don’t follow. Can’t he just look inside their cups
If he gives them different colored straws he'd know who's cups are who's even if left unattended. If he gives one girl a red straw and another a blue straw and later sees that the red straw cup is empty and the blue straw cup is half full he knows the girl with the red straw will be more strongly affected. Really fucking weird and premeditated
What a sick fuck
> Two of the friends drank the smoothies and eventually passed out. A third girl didn’t want the drink and alerted a family friend by text message after she saw Meyden return to make sure the girls were asleep. He moved the arm of one girl and the body of another and put his finger under one’s nose to see if she was asleep. fuck that's soo creepy
If he really wanted to get some sleep maybe he should’ve taken the drug.
I have two girls, and I’ve always told them (and will continue to tell them) that they can always *always* call me if they feel unsafe no matter when, where, or the decisions that lead to it. Can’t have a kid (especially a girl) not asking for help because they are worried about getting in trouble
If my kid texted me this.... I'd be on the news.
would you be on the news for something for which you might receive a 10 year suspended sentence?
Temporary insanity is a thing. I once watched a documentary on a father who went temporarily insane and killed his daughters rapists.
Meanwhile a woman went to jail just recently for killing her rapist.
Should have gotten a lot more
Two years? This fucking dude laced smoothies to minors and they gave him two fucking years??? That’s fucking wild.
Right. Because 12yos on benzos will totally wake up refreshed. Sir, your lie makes no sense. And I’m disgusted that you only got 2 years
Thank god for the one little girl who wouldn’t drink it, faked being asleep, reached out for help, and ended up saving all of them. She’s incredible and her parents should be overwhelmingly proud of her, and of themselves for raising such a smart and strong girl. 💪 I was prescribed Benzos for the first time in my 30s. Even a half dose, which was HALF of a single milligram, knocked me on my ass and had me asleep for several hours every time. 😳 They also erase your memory. I kept having panic attacks and ended up feeling like I was living in the movie Memento because of the missing days. 🥴 This POS knew *exactly* what he was doing. He just wasn’t anticipating his daughter being friends with Veronica Mars Jr. 😎
I'm still in shock that this guy went through with something that stupid. He can't possibly believe that he could get away clean after drugging a bunch of kids. The first girl to say to her parents "I got woozy and don't remember what happened" and it's either a call to the cops or dad coming over with his scattergun. Perverts, famously, not known for their intelligence. Hence the continued flood of "have a seat over there"s even after To Catch a Predator had been on the air for a couple years.
Man, even if it *was* just a way to get happily active 12 year old girls to go to sleep so he could go to bed, slipping sleeping medication to children is *not* the way to go. Leaving aside the predatory aspect, you don't medicate someone else's child. Hard stop. And then of course there's this creepy aspect of touching the girls while they're asleep or standing there staring for fifteen minutes, Everything about this is wrong, and that's before we get to the predatory aspect which makes it so much worse. I am glad he got jail time for this crime.
Man I knew parents who bought their 12, 13 and 14 year olds and their friends alcohol. At that age you’re like ‘your mom is so cool’ but later you realize she’s an idiot.
Growing up my parents were strict, and one of their rules was "no sleepovers". I hated it so much and resented them bitterly for it. I always felt so left out. As I'm getting older, and possibly having kids of my own these days, I'm understanding it more and more.
....2 years. For poisoning plus whatever happened to those girls after the sober one left. Hopefully he was spooked enough to have resisted doing anything, but holy hell those kids *and* their parents will be permanently affected by this. I wonder if this was a one off or if his daughter has been subjected to this tactic already.
And this is why I’m the lame parent that says no to sleepovers.
Maybe don't be a fucking creep this is all on him.
>but they didn’t go to bed by 11pm as he wanted. Meyden said he wanted them well rested for the next day. Go to sleep by 11? It's a sleepover! A mother shared with my wife once, their daughter is not allowed at sleepovers because this happened to her. This mother decided not to tell her husband.....who is a FBI agent. Blows my mind.