Colleagues of the Oregon human resources director accused of drugging his daughter’s preteen friends with spiked smoothies at a sleepover say he exhibited ‘creepy’ behavior in the past.
Michael Meyden, 57, was released on $50,000 bail in March after being charged with several crimes when the 12-year-olds tested positive for benzodiazepines at the hospital.
Today, his colleagues are speaking out about Meyden, saying his interest in their children would make them uncomfortable.
A colleague said: “He always wanted to know more about our families. He asked me questions about my children, how old they were, what extracurricular activities they liked. Then he would tell me what his children were doing. It seemed really innocent at the time.
However, the anonymous co-worker began to see the sinister side, with Meyden going so far as to “like” her daughter’s cheerleading photos on Facebook.
Colleagues of the Oregon human resources director accused of drugging his daughter’s preteen friends with spiked smoothies at a sleepover say he exhibited ‘creepy’ behavior in the past.
Michael Meyden, 57, was released on $50,000 bail in March after being charged with several crimes when the 12-year-olds tested positive for benzodiazepines at the hospital. Pictured: Meyden during his 2008 marriage to wife Yukiko Ishida, the couple filed for divorce in October
“He was asking questions about her, he knew the names and ages of my children. He kept track of these things. I thought he was just being nice.
Meyden even had a reputation in his office for being happy, jovial and interested in everyone, according to the New York Post.
The stories regarding Meyden’s behavior with children shocked those who knew him. He pleaded not guilty.
A terrified girl who refused smoothies desperately tried to protect her unconscious friends from being attacked at the party in August, a court heard.
She sent a series of frantic text messages calling for help as Meyden allegedly prowled the Lake Oswego, Oregon, home to see if the tranquilizers had taken effect.
“Mom please come pick me up and say I had a family emergency, “I don’t feel safe,” she wrote as Meyden briefly returned upstairs.
Michael Meyden pictured in search warrant for his $1.3 million home in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he allegedly drugged his daughter’s friends
Meyden and his wife Yukiko Ishida-Meyer shared the $1.3 million home in Lake Oswego, but filed for divorce in October last year and his current address is listed as an RV park in Vancouver.
“I may not answer, but please come and get me. Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!!’
Meyden’s now-deleted LinkedIn profile identifies him as an Arizona State University graduate who worked for the energy company Avangrid.
He and his wife Yukiko Ishida-Meyer shared the $1.3 million home in Lake Oswego, but filed for divorce in October last year and his current address is listed as an RV park in Vancouver.
The three girls had joined Meyden’s daughter for the “spa party” sleepover at his house on August 26.
Meyden was “very involved” in the event by taking them to get their nails done and picking up pizza for their dinner, according to the affidavit.
Before going to bed, Meyden allegedly made them two smoothies each and “insisted” that they drink them.
‘Mr. Meyden specifically gave each of the girls specific colored reusable straws to distinguish their own drink,” the probable cause affidavit states.
‘Mr. Meyden was adamant that the girls should drink from their own cups.
Meyden in a photo from his now-deleted LinkedIn profile
One girl drank both of her smoothies and another girl had one drink, but the third said she didn’t like smoothies and hardly drank any, police said.
Authorities say one of the girls said the drinks appeared to contain “tiny white bits”; in them and that Meyden’s own daughter appeared to have drunk a significant amount.
The girls then retreated to the basement where two of them slept in a bedroom and the others on a sofa bed.
The only non-drugged girl remained awake and saw Meyden enter the basement and take the heavily drugged girl away from her.
When he disappeared upstairs, the girl brought her unconscious friend back next to her only to find Meyden returning and pulling her away again, the affidavit states.
“He put his finger under the waking girl’s nose, as if to see if she was sleeping soundly, and then he waved his hand in front of her face,” she told police.
As Meyden retreated, she began calling and texting her parents and eventually managed to reach a family friend, who picked her up and took her home.
As word spread, the parents of the other two girls arrived to pick up their daughters at 3 a.m., but Meyden was reportedly reluctant to let them in, telling them their children were asleep.
The parents took the girls to Randall Children’s Hospital where they tested positive for benzodiazepines, tranquilizers more typically used to calm anxiety or as a sleep aid.
The girl who drank two smoothies told police she started feeling dizzy, hot and clumsy shortly after finishing the second one.
She then “lost consciousness” and fell into a “thick, deep sleep” unlike anything she had experienced before, the affidavit states.
Meyden was charged with three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, three counts of applying a Schedule IV controlled substance to the body of a minor and three misdemeanor counts of delivering a Schedule IV controlled substance to a minor.
He turned himself in to the Clackamas County Jail in March and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing Wednesday before being released on $50,000 bail.
The father of two is scheduled to appear in Clackamas County Court again in May.
“Mr. Meyden is presumed innocent,” said his lawyer, Mark Cogan.
“We haven’t seen the proof. The indictment was issued by a closed-door grand jury where no judge or defense attorney was allowed.
“And we hope people will reserve judgment until all the facts are in.”
Meyden is due back in court in May.
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