LA Angels employee charged with giving star pitcher Tyler Skaggs 'fentanyl-laced drugs which caused his overdose death' is also accused of giving FIVE other MLB players pills
Five Major League Baseball players are prepared to testify against the former Los Angeles Angels employee who allegedly gave them drugs similar to the ones that caused the fatal overdose of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.
According to court documents filed late Friday, federal prosecutors will present testimony from 'approximately' five players who will say they received oxycodone pills from Eric Kay, former director of communications for the Angels, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Kay was described as the 'singular source' of oxycodone pills for some players as far back as 2017. He allegedly supplied some players with 'two to three pills, while others would ask for up to 20 pills.'
It was unclear whether the players who will testify are with the Angels, with other teams or still active.
Eric Kay was indicted by a federal grand jury in on drug charges for allegedly providing Tyler Skaggs with the fentanyl-laced drugs that caused his overdose death. Now five other MLB players are alleging he sold them similar drugs as well
Tyler Skaggs was found dead on July 1, 2019, in a Dallas, Texas, hotel room
Kay was indicted by a grand jury in Texas last fall on charges that included distributing the fentanyl-laced drugs that allegedly caused Skaggs, 27, to overdose in a Dallas hotel room on July 1, 2019.
According to the court filing, prosecutors intend to show Kay offered Angels tickets and memorabilia as compensation as he tried to close some transactions with his suppliers and had actually overdosed himself at the Angels stadium three months before Skaggs' death.
The court documents also revealed chat transcripts from the online auction site OfferUp between Kay and several buyers, all using words like 'M30,' 'Roxy,' and 'Blue,' all code for oxycodone.
One of the texts showed Kay worried about fentanyl, but willing to buy pills from a buyer named 'Sharky.'
'Ok cool. Pharm grade? No fet. Sh*t is scary,' Kay wrote, according to the transcript.
Later, Kay appeared to offer a baseball autographed by Angels star outfielder Mike Trout as part of the deal.
'U have a son? Coud hook him with a signed Trout ball for a trade if U want?' Kay wrote.
'We dodger fans my boi lol,' Sharky responded.
The court filing added that 'evidence will also demonstrate that Kay was motivated to obtain these pills because Kay could himself use some of the pills that he obtained for the players. It therefore provides context and background to the distribution at issue in the indictment.'
Kay has entered a not guilty plea, and his trial is scheduled to start Oct 4 in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.
His Fort Worth-based attorney, William Reagan Wynn, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is being heard in Texas because that is where Skaggs was found dead in a hotel room on July 1, 2019, as the Angels were in the area to play the Rangers.
A coroner's report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit with a toxic mix of alcohol and the drugs fentanyl and oxycodone in his system, which Kay was accused of providing.
Kay was the Angels' director of communications, and he served as their public relations contact on many road trips. He was placed on leave shortly after Skaggs´ death, and he never returned to the team.
Team officials have said they had not been aware that Skaggs was an opioids user and didn't know any employees were providing drugs to players.
Skaggs' parents, Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, filed a suit against Kay and Tim Mead, the Angels' vice president of communications, who allegedly knew of Kay's addiction and drug distribution activities.
The lawsuits name former Los Angeles Angels Director of Communications Eric Kay and Angels' Vice President of Communications Tim Mead
Tyler's wife, Carli Skaggs , filed her complaint in California. Her attorney said she lost her 'soulmate'
The suit was filed in in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth.
Skaggs' wife, Carli Skaggs, filed a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Carli Skagg's complaint alleges that the team owed her husband 'a duty to provide a safe place to work and play baseball,' which it breached when it allowed Kay - 'a drug addict' - to provide Tyler with illegal drugs, resulting in his death.
'As you might expect, the decision to file these complaints has been a very difficult one for Tyler´s parents and his wife,' said the family's attorney Rusty Hardin. 'Nothing will ease the pain and heartache of losing their only child and, for Carli, her husband and soulmate.
'But they want to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Tyler´s tragic, untimely and completely avoidable death, and to hold the individuals and entities - including the Angels - accountable for the actions that contributed to it.
'As the federal grand jury indictment made plainly and painfully clear, were it not for the fentanyl in the counterfeit pill provided by Angels employee Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today. And if the Angels had done a better job of supervising Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today.'
The family are seeking jury trials but didn't specify the amount of damages being sought.