Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Dad Admits to Drugging Girls with Smoothies at Sleepover

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Michael Meyden made headlines when he was accused of drugging the friends of his 12-year-old daughter at a sleepover at his Lake Oswego, Oregon home in 2023. The young victims spoke at Meyden's sentencing about how being drugged impacted them. One of the girls is now suing Meyden and his ex-wife for $2.4 million in a civil suit. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the case along with what the victims said at Meyden's sentencing in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Kaysia Earley https://x.com/EarleyforJudgeCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. My thoughts are also going to get personal, but that's the price you pay when you mess with a mother's children. It gets personal real quick. You played Russian roulette with my child's life. A father in Oregon violates the trust of his daughter's friends and their parents by drugging the girls with smoothies. Now, for the first time, we're hearing from those young victims. And you'll hear from Michael Maiden as well.

Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Michael Maiden is currently serving a 24-month prison term for drugging his 12-year-old daughter's friends at a sleepover at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon in the summer of 2023. Now, I've told you about this case a few times, and it's really, it's unbelievable. And it should serve as a cautionary tale to parents everywhere. Of course, we all think we should be able to trust the parents of our children's friends. Should is the operative word there. And you're going to hear from some of the victims in this case because their voices matter the most. You'll also hear from Michael Maiden, his explanation.

Some might even call it an excuse. Maiden pleaded guilty to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance. He admitted to mixing sedatives, benzodiazepines, specifically into mango smoothies that he made for his daughter's friends at a sleepover. The search warrant affidavit lays out disturbing facts. Investigators said that Maiden arranged all the activities for the sleepover. He took the girls to get their nails done, ordered them pizza, and then dictated their activities at his

home. Then detectives say Maiden made mango smoothies for the girls. Each had a different colored straw, and Maiden insisted that they drank the entire concoction. But guess what? One of the girls, she became very suspicious. And thank goodness for all of them that she did. She described cuddling with one of her friends and said Maiden came to the basement a couple of times and removed her arm from around her friend. One time, he actually put his finger under her nose to see if she was sound asleep. The girl texted her 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. Please, please pick up. Please, please.

The girl then texted a family friend who came to get her and they returned to the home and picked up the rest of the girls. Detectives say the girls tested positive for benzodiazepines at the hospital. Those are sedatives that can be used to reduce anxiety, muscle spasms, and reduce seizures. I spoke with Chris Hansen, who spent years tracking down predators, about the case earlier this year. I mean, to me, the way this plays out, it was like he was having his little fantasy. He had these young girls over there. He's got his plan, whatever it is. He gives them these smoothies, which are drugged, they're laced, and then checks to make sure that they're sufficiently asleep to do what?

I mean, what do you think he had up his sleeve? What do you think his intent was? It was nothing good. I mean, just drugging anybody without their permission is a horrible thing to do. That in itself is predator-like and deserves a prison sentence, severe punishment. And then you add on to it what could have happened had one of the girls not been alert enough and concerned enough to call for help. Now, that young girl who called for help and got her friends out of the house in this case, she is the hero. I've said it time and time again. She did the right thing and saved her friends from who knows what. Chris also talked about the impact this will have on those girls for years to come. Well, they certainly won't be going on any sleepovers, no matter whose family it is. I mean, imagine the insecurity of an already vulnerable

adolescent. I mean, right, the stage of life is difficult enough as it is. I mean, remember when you were that age, when I was that age, it's a tough time. And then have some creep who's the father of a friend violate you at this most vulnerable time in your life? Lock him up. I mean, there's no gray area here. None whatsoever. The case of michael

maiden is literally exhibit a of why you need to do everything you can to make sure the people in your life and your child's life are safe i decided to search michael maiden's name on truthfinder.com to see if his name would come up truthfinder.com is one of the largest public records search services out there maiden's name definitely came up in the research results, and so did his criminal conviction for drugging those young girls. So for anyone who logs on and searches him from now on, that record will appear. Truthfinder is great because it will also give you past and current addresses, social media accounts, possible relatives, and phone numbers. And another thing that I love, Truthfinder will show you the addresses of sex offenders who live near you. You should give it a try,

and I have a great deal for you. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information. The judge locked up Michael Maiden, giving him that 24-month prison sentence. And we'll talk about that sentence shortly. Before Maiden was sentenced, the victims spoke to the court, and we've altered their voices a little bit just to protect their identities. Three of my best friends. Knowing how I felt that night, I'm certain that it was not the first time Mr. Maiden drugged me, but it is the first time that he was caught. I felt similar effects during past experiences, and now I know why. Mr. Maiden encouraged his daughter to have friends over for sleepovers.

He wanted us at his house, made creepy comments about us skinny dipping in their hot tub. He made comments about when we took showers and changed clothes. He would touch my friends and I without our consent, and I had to ask him to stop multiple times. But he also took away my best friend. I needed her most. I trust him because he was my best friend's dad and he abused that trust. He used drugs that made you fall asleep and forget things. He used drugs that could have killed us. We had to spend almost six hours at the hospital doing blood tests and talking to police.

And as a 12-year-old kid, trust me, that scared me. It's so hard to listen to that young girl and what she went through. And she says for a time, she actually blamed herself. For the longest time, I thought that maybe it was my fault that this happened to me. Maybe it's my fault that he drugged me. Maybe it's my fault my friends are suffering because of me. But then I slowly began to realize, it's not my fault. It's his. And I or my friends should not feel any blame for any of this. Michael Madon, look at me.

You are horrible. You are a rotten old man who did this to children. I don't know what your motive was, whether it was rape or anything, but for the longest time, you've made me scared of old men that probably think like you. I am disgusted by the look of your face and your actions and all of that you've done. I can't believe the low sentence you're getting for this. You are horrible and I will always hate you for what you've done. Now, the mothers of these children were furious, understandably so.

When Michael Maiden was sentenced, one mother talked about the anger she felt. My thoughts are also going to get personal, but that's the price you pay when you mess with a mother's children. It gets personal real quick. You played Russian roulette with my child's life. She's barely five feet tall and on a good day, 70 pounds soaking wet. And you overdosed her with benzodiazepines. You didn't just administer them. You overdosed her.

Your Honor, the test results, confirmation testing that came back, that were taken at least a good six hours after she ingested the smoothies, were off the charts. The tests couldn't even register how much she had in her system. It just maxed out. You played Russian roulette with her life because you had no idea what her medical history was. You had no idea if she had anything else in her system. That mother went on to say that this could have been a different trial.

You assume she had nothing in her system. And if she did, the interaction of those benzodiazepines with the amount you gave her, she'd be dead. Dead. Dead children. You could have killed her. First off, I want to wish you Merry Christmas. There's always jokes or store sales about Christmas in July, but for you, Christmas is here in June. You have been given a gift of a plea deal. This gift was given to you because you got lucky you didn't kill my

child with the amount of Tumas Pam you gave her. And this gift was given not because you earned it or deserved it, but because the system so overworked and overwhelmed that it determined that 24 months was the best that it could do. And listen to this next part about the claim that Michael Maiden had been compliant. I'd say this compliance has only come within the last couple of months because at the beginning of you being considered a suspect in the drugging of these children, you definitely tried to avoid consequences. When I confronted you at 3 a.m. the morning of August 26 and demanded my child back, you argued with me against giving her to me. You tried to weasel out of giving me my child. So the mother said that Michael Maiden tried to weasel out of giving me my child. So the mother said that Michael Maiden tried to keep her daughter at his home that night. Then Michael Maiden spoke and offered an explanation for what he had done.

So I've always tried to make sure that my kids had big events so that they could look forward to during the weekend during that time and that they could look forward to as social events with their friends. This summer, we had many sleepovers with many people that were all very fun and successful. With some of the kids, they went to bed on time as asked, but some of the kids, their parents didn't make them go to bed at any time. So Michael Maiden said that he wanted the girls to go to bed and he wanted to be sure the girls were sleeping and not going outside or something like that. He said that was the reason he drugged them and he needed to go to work the next morning and needed to go to sleep over and four of

his friends snuck out and were picked up by the Westland police and all their parents got a phone call at 3 in the morning saying, come get your kid. I think all of us probably snuck out when we were that age. I know I did. But it's just not safe to do that anymore. And I really wanted this event to be something that they could enjoy and be safe. And to hear that that didn't happen absolutely destroys me. I want to bring in Kaseya Early. She is a criminal defense attorney.

Kaseya, I'm wondering what your thoughts are as a mother and a criminal defense attorney on this 24-month sentence for Michael Maiden. I mean, he admitted to drugging 12-year-old girls. Yeah. Based on that, I do believe that the sentence was too light, and here's why. It's just the thought that he didn't do it to not one, but two. He felt comfortable enough to put these drugs into their drinks. Who would have known what would have happened to these girls? But we know his intentions, even based on the circumstantial evidence. Although the act was not completed, it's completely egregious. And this is coming from a mother. I have one daughter, three boys, and I never allowed sleepovers based on the line of work that I do.

I try a lot of sexual abuse cases, sexual assault cases. And this is the type of environment where it happens. Usually you spend the night sometimes over family members or friends. And what would seem as innocent, you know, even if the parents do their due diligence and we meet the parents, we never know their ulterior motive. Everyone put on their best face forward. When I first heard this story,

I was completely disgusted. My heart broke for the girls. And I do believe 24 months is a light sentence. Yeah, it seems very light to me, given the facts here. And, you know, one of the parents said the level of the drug in her daughter's system at the hospital hours later was off the charts. And, you know, there's no telling. I talked to, you know, a chemist not too long ago who said, you know, you don't know. These girls could have died. And that's why I think it's so nuts that he only got 24 months in prison. And he said, Casey, he, he did this because he wanted to make sure the kids were safe and that they were asleep and not maybe like going outside, you know, that staying up late and he had to go to work the next morning. Well, here's the deal. You don't have a sleepover on a

weeknight then. That's right. That's right. First of all, I think that's a fabricated excuse, first and foremost, because you're not allowed to give someone else's child any drugs without the parent's permission. So I don't buy that at all. I see it as making an excuse. It was written in the smoothie. It was written in the smoothie. Without their consent. I know that they're minors, but if you were so concerned, let's not have a sleepover at all. How about that? It's very eerie to me that he would not only conceal it, but the type of drugs, the amount of drugs. And I do believe when I heard about this case earlier, that one of the girls

even complained that the smoothie tasted funny. So everything that he did, I do believe he was motivated by his sexual desires, because there's no other explanation as to why you would secretly place some drug into a minor's drink. And then your excuses that you want to make sure that they were safe and sleeping so that you can go to work. I don't buy it. And again, I really believe that that punishment is not enough because he violated their bodies. And like you said, the amount after the mother took them to the hospital, it was high. I mean, how do you overcome that? And then the collateral consequences attached to that, the victims will deal with trust issues if they ever get a drink in the future. I mean, it's so much that I believe that that sentence was a slap on the wrist.

Yeah, it certainly seems to be. And he, you know, he tried to take his own life, Kaseya, when he was out on bail on GPS monitoring. So, I mean, that to me is like kind of a consciousness of guilt type thing. Just dealing with the shame, dealing with all of the weight that comes along with these charges. Of course, you know, my heart goes out to anyone dealing with thoughts of suicide, no matter who you are. I mean, that's a big step. But unfortunately, the consequences of

his behavior led up to those results. I mean, I do believe there's something deeper for him to feel compelled or for him to even go that extra step. I said it before when I first heard about this story that I believe investigators should do some deeper digging on his computer, his cell phone, to see if there's some connection with pornography. Because typically when you have drugs introduced to minors, there's some sexual under pornography, because typically when you have drugs introduced to minors, there's some sexual undertones. So I don't buy his story. And I believe that some digging needs to be done to verify that there aren't any other victims out there that he could have possibly done this to. Yeah, most definitely. Doesn't seem that they did that, though. And

a lot of people think that maybe, you know, the courts are clogged up and they just had to dispose of this case and this was the way to do it. Well, based on my experience, oftentimes prosecutors have to get victims approval sometimes in order to resolve the case. They also look at the factors of the case. If this was a first time offender, if he doesn't have a previous criminal history or record. But if the prosecutor believed that they had full victim cooperation, and that could be another consideration, maybe the minors, they don't want to testify. They don't want to be publicly exposed in front of a jury. So sometimes it's their reluctance on participating with the prosecution that the prosecution will come up with a sentence that they think is fair and just based on the circumstances. So there's a lot of factors based on my experience dealing with these sexual allegations. And in this case, he admitted to these sexual charges that may result in that final sentence of 24 months. Yeah, he contends it wasn't sex, but a sexual motive.

But we'll never know, I guess, for sure. Thank you so much, Kaseya Early. Thank you for having me. Michael Maiden is now being sued civilly by one of the girls and her father for $2.4 million, and his ex-wife is also named in the suit. According to that suit, the defendant insisted the plaintiff and the other minor children ingest the smoothie he prepared, which contained temazepam, a drug prescribed for insomnia due to its sedative effect. The lawsuit alleges that

Maiden acted with intent to cause harmful or offensive contact because the plaintiff was entrusted into his care, meaning she was completely reliant on his responsible conduct. The complaint continues. As a father, Maiden should have known this behavior would inflict severe emotional distress and trauma upon these teenage girls. Maiden and his wife divorced quickly after he was charged criminally, but that may not protect their assets from this civil suit. Whether other girls' families decide to sue remains to be seen. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.