Bend women report being drugged at bar
Claim drinks were spiked; police investigating
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Bend woman claims she and her friend were drugged while visiting a bar downtown.
On Oct. 22, Ataya Swindlehurst said she visited a local bar in Bend with a friend for an hour, and had two drinks. Swindlehurst said Wednesday that after the second drink, she couldn't remember anything that occurred later that night. She claims from 30 minutes after her second drink, she couldn't remember anything until the next day.
Swindlehurst said she never walked away from her drinks, but at one point in the night, she recognized her drink was slightly shifted.
She said her friend recalls two men behind them referring to them saying, "Oh, that girl is cute, you take her home and I take her home." Swindlehurst said the same two guys approached her and her friend and started talking to them.
Swindlehurst said she and her friend even took a drug test the next day.
"My friend and I were so curious the next day, if we were actually drugged or not," Swindlehurst said. "So, we actually bought an at-home, 12-panel drug test that tests for everything. I have never done any drugs in my life, except for marijuana, that is the only thing I should have tested positive for is THC. I tested positive for THC and benzodiazepines."
Swindlehurst contacted Bend police and the manager of the bar, and said they would press charges, if in fact the camera footage that night provided a suspect for the drugging.
Bend police said they are working to obtain the surveillance video, and will have Swindlehurst and her friend identify the men they suspect drugged them.
Lt. Juli McConkey said, "If someone feels they have been drugged, or suspect they were drugged, go to the hospital right away and get the blood drawn and the urine taken. Then, we can take it to the crime lab to find out what is the substance. That's the best way we can help, and within 24 hours, it's important to get blood and urine (samples) taken."
Swindlehurst said she would hate for this to happen to someone else downtown.
"We weren't partying or being crazy," Swindlehurst said. "We were just trying to have a couple of drinks, just me and my friend -- and then this happened."
