An unsettling legal case in Oregon has reached a conclusion as a 58-year-old father, who drugged preteen girls at a sleepover by spiking fruit smoothies with a prescription sedative, has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. This incident involved his 12-year-old daughter and her friends.

Records from Clackamas County reveal that Michael Meyden, alongside his ex-wife, finalized a settlement last month in response to a civil lawsuit initiated by the father of one of the affected girls. While the specific financial terms remain undisclosed, subsequent court proceedings have been canceled, indicating a resolution.

The lawsuit, filed in November 2024, demanded $2.4 million, citing claims of intentional emotional distress, negligence, and battery. Earlier that year, Meyden had admitted guilt to three felony charges related to causing others to consume a controlled substance during the incident.

In June 2024, Circuit Court Judge Ann Lininger sentenced Meyden to a two-year term in a state prison as a consequence of his actions.

The troubling event occurred on August 23, 2023, at Meyden’s Lake Oswego home, according to reports by Law&Crime. He invited his daughter’s friends, including the plaintiff’s child, to his residence for a sleepover. During the gathering, Meyden prepared mango smoothies and strongly encouraged the children to drink them, as detailed in the legal complaint.

Meyden later confessed to having laced the smoothies with Temazepam, a sedative classified as a Schedule IV controlled substance, commonly prescribed for insomnia.

“Soon after drinking the smoothie prepared by defendant Michael Meyden, plaintiff and two other minor children became tired and fell asleep. One of the minor children had, unbeknownst to defendant Michael Meyden, not ingested the smoothie,” the complaint states. “That child observed defendant Michael Meyden acting oddly and in a manner that was concerning to them. That child also observed that one of the other children seemed very ill.”

The child who did not ingest the smoothie repeatedly called and texted her parents and family friends to come and pick her up.

“Mom please pick me up and say had family emergency,” one of the texts from about 2 a.m. reportedly read. “[D]on’t feel safe. might not respond but please come get me (crying emoji), Please. Please pick up. Please. PLEASE!”

After being picked up by a family friend and dropped at home, the girl’s parents went back and retrieved the other two friends from Meyden’s home and brought them to the hospital. The two other girls tested positive for benzodiazepine. One of the girls was reportedly speaking slowly and told police that after drinking the smoothie from Meyden she became “woozy, hot, and clumsy” before falling into a “thick, deep sleep.”

That child went on to tell police that a short while after the other kids went to the basement to sleep, she heard Meyden enter the basement as well. While pretending to be asleep, the child said she saw Meyden move the child sleeping next to her “toward the opposite side of the bed.”

Meyden then returned a second time and reportedly put his finger under the nose of the same child to check her breathing before waving a hand in her face to ensure she was “soundly asleep.”

During Meyden’s sentencing hearing, one of the victims spoke about the incident saying, “My life has become a living hell because of you and your actions. I want you to think of yourself as the monster you are.”

Another victim told him, “You are horrible,” adding, “You are a rotten old man who did this to children.”