A young girl urgently requested her mother to pick her up from a friend’s house after being drugged by the friend’s father during a sleepover. Michael Meyden spiked mango smoothies with a prescription sedative called Temazepam, which is typically used to treat insomnia, and gave them to his daughter and her friends.
Despite being urged to consume the laced smoothies, one of the children, feeling unsafe, persistently contacted her parents and family friends for assistance. Frantically texting her mother around 2 a.m., she pleaded to be picked up due to feeling unsafe and not being able to respond properly.
After being rescued by a family friend and returned home, the girl’s parents retrieved the other two friends and took them to the hospital for examination. Both girls tested positive for benzodiazepine, with one of them reporting feeling woozy, hot, and clumsy before falling into a deep sleep after consuming the spiked smoothie.
The affected girl disclosed to the police that she witnessed Meyden moving one of the sleeping children in the basement where they were staying. She observed Meyden checking the child’s breathing and ensuring she was sound asleep before leaving the area.
During Meyden’s sentencing, one of the victims expressed the trauma caused by the incident, labeling him a monster. Another victim condemned him as a “rotten old man.” Court records revealed a settlement between Meyden and his ex-wife in a civil lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ fathers, although the settlement amount remains undisclosed.
The civil lawsuit, initiated in November 2024, sought $2.4 million for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and battery. Meyden previously pleaded guilty to three felony charges related to the drugging incident and was sentenced to two years in prison by Circuit Court Judge Ann Lininger in June 2024.