Former Angels player Eric Kay was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly supplying drugs to five other MLB players, including former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
(CBSLA) – LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Federal prosecutors revealed in court papers filed Friday that a former Angels employee standing trial in connection with pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ death overdose in 2019 may have also provided illicit narcotics to at least five other Major League Baseball players.
On June 18, 2019, in Toronto, Canada, Tyler Skaggs of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim throws a pitch in the first inning during an MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. (Getty Images/Vaughn Ridley) )
On July 1, 2019, Skaggs, 27, was discovered dead in his hotel room at the Southlake Town Square Hilton in Southlake, Texas. While in town to face the Texas Rangers, the Angels stayed at the hotel.
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According to the LA Times, prosecutors want to give evidence from the five players who claim they took oxycodone from former Angels public relations director Eric Kay in Friday’s documents.
According to the Times, the filing states that Kay has been providing “controlled substances, including oxycodone,” to Angels players since 2017, and that all five are willing to testify that Kay was the “singular source” who supplied oxycodone to the players in amounts of “two to three pills while others would ask for up to 20 pills.”
The evidence will also show that Kay often coordinated the distribution through text messages or chats with the victim 1/8Skaggs 3/8, according to the complaint. “In many cases, this witness evidence will be backed up by text message exchanges. Kay was also driven to acquire these drugs because he might take some of the medicines he got for the players himself, according to the evidence. As a result, it gives context and history to the indictment’s distribution.”
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JULY 02: Members of the Los Angeles Angels react at a news conference held at Globe Life Park in Arlington on July 02, 2019 in Arlington, Texas to discuss the loss of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Tom Pennington) )
Kay was charged with two federal charges in October 2020, claiming that he supplied the fentanyl that killed the pitcher. He has entered a not guilty plea.
According to the US Attorney’s Office in Dallas, the Grand Jury indictment also claimed Kay and others who were not identified conspired to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl starting in or about 2017.
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Kay’s trial is scheduled to begin on October 4 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Skaggs’ family sued Kay, the Angels, and Tim Mead, the team’s former vice president of communications, for wrongful death in June.
The Angels “should have known Kay was selling narcotics to athletes,” according to the family.
The accusations were labeled “baseless and reckless” by the Angels.
A former federal prosecutor was recruited by the club to undertake an internal investigation, which revealed that no one in team administration was aware of “any employee supplying opioids to any player.”
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(CBS Broadcasting Inc., Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved.) This article was written with the help of City News Service.)
