An Oregon man accused of giving his daughter’s friend a drug-laced mango smoothie had a creepy interest in his co-worker’s children, The Post has learned.
When Michael Mayden worked as a human resources director at renewable energy company Avangrid, he was known within the company as a friendly and cheerful person, but one former colleague is now questioning his motives. There is.
“He always wanted to know about our family,” a colleague who worked with him for about two years until 2021 told the Post.
“He asked me about my kids, how old they were, what extracurricular activities they liked, etc. Then he told me what the kids were doing. It was really innocent at the time. It looked like.”
But his co-workers say his interests extended beyond work hours. “He was the only co-worker who wanted to post pictures of his daughter cheering on her Facebook,” she recalls.
“He asked me a lot of questions about her, and he knew my children’s names and ages. He kept track of them. I thought he was just being nice.”
Maiden, 57, is currently facing multiple charges stemming from a sleepover at his $1.2 million home in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on August 26 of last year.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the newspaper, Maiden provided three of her daughter’s 12-year-old friends with mango smoothies containing benzodiazepines, depressants that slow down the nervous system.
Two of the girls fell into a “deep, deep sleep,” according to the affidavit. Her third girl frantically texted her parents and friends, asking for someone to help.
Soon, at 3 a.m., the parents of all the girls descended on the house. The next day, the girls needed help walking and could not remember what happened the night before, so their parents took them to the hospital. One girl told police, “I was like this.” Her affidavit alleges that after she drank two smoothies she “blacked out.”
according to Lake Oswego Police Department StatementPolice later determined that Maiden was “responsible for the drugs found in the girls’ bloodstream.”
Maiden faces felony charges of causing another person to ingest a controlled substance and applying a controlled substance to another person’s body.
Police have not speculated about Mayden’s motive. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently free on $50,000 bail.
According to a divorce judgment obtained by the newspaper, the Maidens divorced in October last year, less than two months after the incident. Maiden is currently in hiding in Vancouver, Washington, and has not been able to contact her children, sources told the Post.
“This violation of trust is the worst betrayal that anyone in our family has ever experienced,” Yukiko Ishida, a relative of the wife, told the Post. “He’s not fit to be around children, and I don’t think his children will ever speak to him again.”
Neither of Maiden’s two children are named as victims in court documents.
Maiden’s attorney, Mark Cogan, did not respond to The Post’s request for comment, but previously told The Oregonian that his client is “presumed innocent and will not make decisions until all facts and circumstances are known.” I would like it to be put on hold.”
Maiden is scheduled to appear in court again next month.
