Earlier this year, an Oregon father handed himself into the police after being accused of drugging three 12-year-old girls who were attending his daughter's sleepover party last summer with a laced smoothie.
And this week, the family of one of the teens has broken their silence on the incident, revealing it left the youngster 'traumatised'.
The 57-year-old allegedly dosed his daughter's friends' drinks with benzodiazepine last August, turning himself into the authorities on 29 February, six months since the alleged crime took place.
He was subsequently taken to Clackamas County Jail, where Lake Oswego Police Department indicted him on nine felony and misdemeanour charges - including causing another individual to ingest a controlled substance.
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He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Last summer, investigating officers were called to Randall Children’s Hospital on 26 August to speak to the three girls, who claimed that their friend's father had drugged them the evening prior, The Oregonian reported.
The girls claimed that, during their sleepover, Meyden had been unusually involved in the evening's proceedings, and consistently checked on them throughout the night.
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They later told authorities that he'd given them a batch of mango smoothies between 9 and 11pm, which appeared to have 'tiny white chunks throughout and sprinkled on top', and Meyden had allegedly encouraged the girls to drink them, even making a second batch when one of them said she wasn't keen on the taste.
Investigating officers later claimed that the probable affidavit was that Meyden had drugged the girls, after the girl that secretly didn't finish her drink claimed she'd witnessed him entering the room and performing 'tests' on them to see if they were sleeping, including by a finger under one of their noses and waving a hand in front of another's face.
After the girl alerted her parents, the mums and dads of the other sleepover attendees went to Meyden's home to recover their girls, who were assessed at a hospital.
Lake Oswego Police Department officers later declared that the father was allegedly 'responsible for the drugs detected in the girls' bloodstreams'.
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And this week, a family member of one of the teenagers told The Post that the alleged victims are still processing the event.
"There’s been a lot of therapy, a lot of nightmares. These girls were traumatised by this man," they said.
"These girls might have to face him in court someday, which is terrifying. The level of trauma is off the charts."
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Developments made in the case say that it was usually Meyden who organised his kids' playdates, court documents allege, with friends further claiming that he said this was due to his recently-divorced Japanese wife's language barrier.
The family member went on to say: "It wasn’t weird that he set things up, because [she] had always been around.
"No one would have let the girls go if we thought that he’d be alone with them."
Meyden - who is free on $50,000 bond - is due back in court next month.
Topics: Parenting, Crime, True Crime, US News
Rhianna Benson