Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Shocking Twist in Dad Accused of Spiking Smoothies at Sleepover

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Michael Meyden, the Oregon dad accused of spiking smoothies for his daughter's friends at a sleepover, has had the terms of his bail modified. Meyden is now on GPS monitoring after an incident last month. Meyden has pleaded not guilty to a long list of charges related to the allegations about the sleepover that took place in August 2023. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy reveals what led to the change in Meyden's terms of release and whether it was the right move in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome browser, find out if you have a claim in a few clicks by visiting https://www.incognitoclaims.com/crimefix/?v=cf5Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest 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/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I'm Anjanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. There's a new twist of sorts in the case of Michael Maiden, the father accused of doing something that's really unthinkable. Before I get to the shocking thing that's happened recently, a quick recap on what got us to this point. Prosecutors in Clackamas County say that he mixed sedatives, Michael Maiden, into smoothies for the young friends of his daughter in the summer of 2023. But before that, they say he primed the girls by arranging all of the activities for their sleepover. Maiden took the girls, according to prosecutors, who were very young, around 13 or so, to get their nails done, ordered pizza for them, and then dictated everything they did once they returned to his home for the sleepover.

A search warrant affidavit says Maiden mixed mango smoothies for the girls. Each had a different colored straw, and Maiden insisted the girls drink the entire concoction. But one for the girls. Each had a different colored straw, and Maiden insisted the girls drink the entire concoction. But one of the girls became suspicious, and that's a really good thing. She trusted her gut, and all kids should do that. All humans, all adults should do that. She described cuddling with one of her friends as they tried to go to sleep in the basement. She said that Maiden came to the basement a couple of times and removed her arm from around her friend. One time, she said, he 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 me 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 those girls tested positive for benzodiazepines at the hospital. Those are sedatives that can be used to reduce anxiety, muscle spasms, and reduce seizures. For his part, Mike Maiden has pleaded not guilty to a laundry list of felony and misdemeanor charges, including causing another person to ingest a controlled substance. Now to what's happened recently. Michael Maiden has been

ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet after he tried to take his own life, which is incredibly sad. Court records filed by prosecutors say Maiden overdosed on lorazepam but was found and taken to the hospital. Maiden's lawyer argued during a recent hearing that he was in counseling and didn't pose a danger to the victims or anyone else and was trying to repair his relationship with his children and ex-wife, so the monitoring wasn't necessary. This is a law and crime legal alert. Google Incognito tracked users browsing data without their knowledge. Mass Tort Alliance, one of our legal sponsors, is helping users file for compensation because Google misled users about the privacy of its Incognito browser. If you've

used Google Incognito anytime since 2016, you can start your claim by answering less than 10 questions. Log on to incognitoclaims.com slash crime fix. I want to bring in Mark Weaver to talk about this. Mark, Michael Maden had a bond. He was out on bond and they're saying he tried to take his own life. Now they've put him on GPS monitoring. How on earth is GPS monitoring supposed to stop somebody from killing themselves? He's already tried it once, according to court officials. How is that supposed to stop him from possibly doing it again? I share your outraged concern. In addition to having worked as a prosecutor, I've served as an acting judge and magistrate, which means I've set thousands of amounts of bail and bond. One of the considerations

would be, is this defendant going to come back for trial? Killing himself doesn't allow him to come back for trial. And given that he tried it once before, given that these are very serious charges, he's likely to spend time in prison. It seems like an imprudent bond decision by the judge. So they're saying he can't have guns, but he tried to take his own life by overdosing, they say, on lorazepam. And the only reason that apparently his life was saved, possibly, was because sheriff's officials were doing a welfare check on him. After this happened, he moves out of this big million-dollar house, and he moves into a camper or something in another part of Washington State, not too far from where he lived in his big, nice house. And his life's basically in shambles

and falling apart. And so how on earth is that? I mean, there are many, many ways to try to take your own life. I don't know of any GPS monitoring that has like a, I don't know, does it detect your heartbeat to tell that you're conscious or not, or that you're living or not? I mean, you can do a lot of things to try to take your own life. And this sounds like a man who is desperate. Exactly right. The public has a lot of misperceptions about things like ankle bracelets and home arrest and GPS monitoring. The notion that someone is following every movement that someone makes and can send somebody out within minutes to deal with a problem, whether they're leaving or they're trying

to kill themselves, that's fiction from television. Typically, it might be hours or days before they would find out that someone has done something against their bond conditions. If this defendant was in jail, he'd be on suicide watch in the jail. And if he's on home detention, there is no such thing as suicide watch. Again, this feels like an imprudent bond decision. If I were the prosecutor, I would have made a very strong case for this defendant to remain in custody until trial. In a GPS monitoring, you know, a bracelet, it's like this ankle bracelet. I've seen them many times.

And sheriff's officials usually monitor them, you know, but it's basically it's like you have GPS in your phone. You can tell where you are with the GPS in your phone, but the bracelet, you can tell if it gets cut, I think. You might be able to tell if it's been cut off, but it'll show tracking. But you don't have to actively log in to see if somebody's on the move or maybe it sends an alert if you go too far off one direction or something like that. I mean, I'm just confused as to why, and you don't want to lock everybody up for every little willy nilly thing. I get that. Jails are overcrowded. They should probably be reserved for the most horrible criminals who are a flight risk and things like that. But this is somebody who is facing some really awful charges for trying to, he's accused of drugging girls,

drugging their smoothies, the friends of his little, his little daughter, and then trying to like do weird things and check to see if they were sleeping. I mean, God only knows had it not been for the one girl who had the foresight to call a family friend and say, I got to get out of here and help my friends. God only knows what would have happened. Maybe they would have been sexually abused. And so this is a guy who, I mean, yeah, he might be in a camper somewhere hanging out by himself and not around little girls, but he's got to show up for trial. That's the whole point of bail. That's why you're supposed to have bail. It's to ensure your appearances, your future court appearances. And if you're dead, you're not going to show up at court. Yeah, he has a high risk of absconding, which would mean throwing away the monitor and getting away or killing himself.

He must know that prison is in his future. And he must know that people who are convicted of crimes against children like this are not treated well in prison. He has every reason to try to escape justice. If I had been the judge, I probably would have granted a much higher bond or perhaps no bail at all. Remember, every state has different rules. Interesting. Well, we will certainly keep an eye on it. And it'll be interesting to see if they keep an eye on Michael Maiden, if they check in on him to see if he's doing okay. I mean, he's tried to take his own life once. He could very well try to do it again.

And there are different ways to do that, as I mentioned. So we'll keep a close eye on it. We hope that maybe the officials are keeping a close eye on him. Thank you, Mark Weaver. Good to see you again. Thank you. Now, we talked about the girl who was the real hero in this story. In a prior episode of Crime Fix, Chris Hansen and I spoke about her and how she really is the hero and saved her friends from a terrible, terrible situation. It was the victims, the young girls at the sleepover themselves who were desperately texting their parents and friends of the family to come get them because they were afraid. This guy is creeping around and putting his finger under their nose

to see if they're sleeping or awake. He's drugged them with anti-anxiety medication, according to the complaint. And God knows what could have happened had he given them more drugs. Is there a reaction? Is there somebody who dies? Is there somebody who's sexually assaulted? But this is the takeaway point, I think, having covered hundreds and hundreds of these cases over the years. The girl had the common sense and the courage, some of the girls, to actually reach out to their parents and call and say, hey, this is a bad situation. It's making me uncomfortable.

I need help. I need to be picked up. And it goes to my absolute mantra in all these cases, your best defense is the relationship and the exchange of information with your child, especially if they're going to go over to a sleepover. I mean, here's a guy who lives in a million-dollar home, has a job, is married. You think this is the safest thing in the world for your daughter to do. It wasn't in this isolated case. So if your daughter or your son is uncomfortable in any way, they have to be very comfortable coming to you and saying, this is a problem. This makes me feel weird. This isn't right. And whether it's an online predator or a predator like this guy allegedly is, who is known to the parents, whose child is known to the victims in this case, you have to have that

open conversation, that open line of communication so your child feels comfortable to say, hey, this is not good. And look what happened. They ended up taking them to the hospital. They were tested. The drugs found in their system. And ultimately, the local police made a case and arrested this guy. You make a really good point there, I think, because the one girl is an absolute hero. Absolutely. She and her parents taught her right because she knows something is not right. You know, he's taking her arm off of her friend. She describes cuddling with her friend on the couch. They're young girls. I'm so mad reading the affidavit. I just got to be honest with you. You know, I see a lot of this stuff and I try to approach it, you know, somewhat clinically, but also with the outrage and emotion

of a parent. I'm a parent. My guys are much older now. But if I'm the parent of one of these kids, oh my God, I'm going to raise hell about this. And I'm going to be overly protective. And now what has happened, because this predator has acted in this way, none of these girls are going to be allowed to do any of this stuff ever again. Who's going to take a chance on that? So not only did he victimize them by drugging them, scare them, attempt to assault them. He's altered their future and the way their parents protect them. And they're going to be, you know, arguably and understandably overprotected coming in. I mean, just because he didn't actually sexually assault them doesn't mean they've been victimized, traumatized.

This is an attack on these young women. Yeah. And this guy needs to be held accountable for it. This is among the worst of a lot of bad predatory cases I've ever seen. But God only knows what would have happened, Chris, had that girl not texted her parents. Her parents didn't answer, of course, because maybe they were asleep. Well, yeah, it was truly morning. She texts the family friend who's like, I will be right there.

Right. Thank God. They go back and they get the other kids and they take them to the ER and they get them tested and they find these drugs in their system. One other thing that's important to note here, in these horrific cases where kids are victimized or preyed upon, oftentimes online and traditional social media platforms. It is this trip to the emergency room and the skilled nurses and first responders in that emergency room who often get to the bottom of this story, this crime, and it leads to

successful prosecutions. And that is a critical component here too, because we've seen this over and over again. We've reported on it for True Blue, and there've been a lot of notorious cases here where law enforcement got the tip from the person at the ER, the nurse or the first responder. And based upon what I've seen in the affidavit, these law enforcement officers are heroes. They did everything right here. And you wish you didn't have to do investigations like this, but sadly you do. And in an earlier time, without the courage to step forward, without a good conversation and relationship between this girl who reported this and her parents. This is way worse.

Michael Maiden has been living in a camper in Vancouver, Washington, near the area of Oregon where he had lived with his family prior to this incident and his wife filing for divorce. His lawyer, Mark Hogan, previously referred me to a statement saying, Mr. Maiden is presumed innocent and we hope that people will reserve judgment until all of the facts and circumstances are known. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for joining me. I'll see you back here next time.