LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — A teenager and her father have filed a civil lawsuit against a Lake Oswego couple that included a man who pleaded guilty to drugging three 12-year-old girls during a sleepover his daughter was hosting.
The lawsuit, brought forth in Clackamas County, asks Michael Meyden and Yukiko Meyden for a total of $2,400,000 in monetary damages, including for counseling and medical costs. In the lawsuit, filed in November, the teenage girl, who is unnamed, and her father and guardian accuse the couple of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
On Aug. 26, 2023, Lake Oswego police were notified that three teenage girls were being treated at Randall Children’s Hospital after reportedly ingesting a prescription drug while at a friend’s home for a sleepover. Detectives investigated, finding that 57-year-old Meyden had slipped a prescription depressant drug into smoothies he made for the teenagers.
Meyden later turned himself in at the Clackamas County Jail on Feb. 29 on nine felony and misdemeanor charges. In June, he pleaded guilty in Clackamas County Circuit Court to three counts of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, with one count for causing someone to ingest Temazepam. Meyden was sentenced to two years in prison, with three years of parole after his release.
The lawsuit states that Meyden added Temazepam into the mango smoothies, which he "insisted" be drank. Prescribed for insomnia, Temazepam has a sedative effect, and the teenagers quickly fell asleep.
Unbeknownst to Meyden, one of the teenagers had not drunk the smoothie, noticing Meyden "acting oddly and in a manner that was concerning." The teenager also noticed one of her friends seemed "very ill" and called a family friend to pick them up.
Police said that Meyden kept doing tests to see if they were all asleep during the night, with the alert teenager reporting Meyden would wave his hand in front of their faces and moved one girl's arm, then stand near where the girls were sleeping for a long time.
The parents of all the teenagers were notified and picked up their children, and Meyden resisted, saying that the girls were asleep and asked the parents to return in the morning, then allowed the girls to leave after the parents insisted, according to an affidavit. The teenagers were then taken to the hospital.
The teenage plaintiff had traces of Temazepam in her system, the suit says, and the drug was later found in the home after a police search.
The lawsuit concluded that Meyden "acted with intent to case harmful or offensive contract" to the plaintiff and that his actions caused such harm, particularly because the teenager had been "entrusted" into Meyden's care and was "completely reliant on his responsible conduct." The teenager, the lawsuit said, was not only physically by affected the drug, but suffered and "will continue to suffer severe emotional distress."
