An Oregon man who drugged his daughter and her friends with fruit smoothies laced with a sleeping medication after they didn’t go to bed during a sleepover was sentenced to two years in prison.

Michael Meyden, a 57-year-old from the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, apologized during his sentencing Monday after pleading guilty to three felony counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, The Oregonian reported.

“My whole life is destroyed,” he told the court. “Everything that was important to me up until that point is gone.”

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Every parent has had this thought at some point. I’ve even joked about it with other parents, but I never thought in a million years anyone would actually do it. I’ll admit to buying too much pizza and hoping the kids knock off early, but serving up benzo smoothies to 12-year-olds is fucking insane. He deserves what he gets, and should not be allowed near children without a lot of mandated therapy.

    • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I admit to giving my son melatonin as he went to bed. He had a hell of a lot of trouble staying asleep and after reading some research it seemed that he might be lacking that particular drug to help his brain stay asleep. This after his doctor came very close to killing him with overprescribing Abilify, to the point that the other psychiatrists called in to consult on his case were shocked at the dosage levels. He spent a week in the ICU on the edge of death. I should have not been satisfied with that doctor getting his license revoked, and instead pursued criminal charges, but alas, he’s dead now. Not my son, the doctor. My son is flourishing.

      • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Psychos act on those dangerous or impulsive thoughts. Having the thought is human. Talking about it is healthy.

    • exanime@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Speak for yourself… I have never had the thought of drugging my kid so they sleep early

      For starters, the entire point of a sleepover as a kid is to stay up late, chat, eat garbage food and watch tv/video games or whatever. I have never heard of anyone wanting a sleep over so they can go to bed early in someone else’s home.

      I don’t even get what the deal is with people and strict bed times; let alone during a sleepover. If you don’t want your kid to go to bed late, tell them they cannot have a sleepover.

      • Delta@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 months ago

        source

        Sometime between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., Meyden prepared the smoothies “and insisted they drink them,” the girls told police. The drinks had “tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top,” the affidavit says.

        One of the girls said she didn’t like smoothies and declined to drink hers, but Meyden insisted, even making a second one for her to try, Palmeri wrote.

        wtf

        He also moved one girl’s arm and moved her body on the bed, the affidavit says. The girl “remained awake in fear that Mr. Meyden was going to do something” to her friend, according to the affidavit.

        The affidavit says Meyden walked out of the room, prompting a girl to text her mother at 1:43 a.m. Sunday: “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!!”

        WTF

        • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          The affidavit says Meyden walked out of the room, prompting a girl to text her mother at 1:43 a.m. Sunday: “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!!”

          Every parents nightmare is to get a message like this.

          Everyone is making jokes in the comments.

          But Fuck. This. Guy.

        • AThing4String@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          The fact that he was repeatedly moving them away from each other while checking that they were still asleep, plus finally returned drunk??

          “They were staying up too late and I wanted to go to bed” my ASS

        • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          The affidavit says Meyden walked out of the room, prompting a girl to text her mother at 1:43 a.m. Sunday: “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!!”

          Literally speculation?

          You don’t wanna call it until you literally see him inside this 12yo or something?

          • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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            5 months ago

            Re-arranging kids on the bed, I do that with my own children all the time. Kids are weird, I find them in the strangest orientations that very frequently leave parts of them hanging out of the bed or in danger of falling out entirely. I usually re-arrange them and tuck them in properly before I go to sleep every night. They’re all double digit ages, so this isn’t just a toddler thing or something. At a sleepover, if I found kids falling out of bed or in danger of smothering each other or something I’d absolutely just re-arrange them.

            The drugging part, totally insane though.

            • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              I rearrange my own kids when they don’t get all the way back into bed after using the bathroom. There’s no way I’m touching someone else’s kids if they’re sleeping at our house.

            • catloaf@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              These weren’t his kids, and he wasn’t tucking them in, he was checking their breathing to see if the drugs worked.

            • Fisk400@feddit.nu
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              5 months ago

              Did you read the article how he did it? He was explicitly testing them to see if they were waking up from the movement or not in the most cartoonish ways possible.

              The way you rationalize things is how children gets raped.

          • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com
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            5 months ago

            Could easily be a “Oh shit! What have I done? Need to check vitals.” situation.

            I think what he did was wrong too. But over here we have that pesky innocent until proven guilty thing and I’m not wasting mental load on a hypothetical “What if?” dredged up by an internet stranger.

            Just pointing out rape was not mentioned whatsoever in either article nor a charge in court, as that would certainly be reported. You made that up.