Jump to content
  • Welcome to AngelsWin.com

    AngelsWin.com - THE Internet Home for Angels fans! Unraveling Angels Baseball ... One Thread at a Time.

    Register today to join the most interactive online Angels community on the net!

    Once you're a member you'll see less advertisements. Become a Premium member and you won't see any ads! 

     

IGNORED

OC Register: Former Angels employee Eric Kay charged in connection with death of Tyler Skaggs


mmc

Recommended Posts

A longtime Angels public relations employee was charged on Friday with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, the drug found in Tyler Skaggs’ system when the former Angels pitcher died last year.

Eric Kay has been arrested and appeared in Federal Court in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday morning, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas.

If convicted, Kay faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

“Tyler Skaggs’s overdose – coming, as it did, in the midst of an ascendant baseball career – should be a wakeup call: No one is immune from this deadly drug, whether sold as a powder or hidden inside an innocuous-looking tablet,” U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox said in a statement.  “Suppressing the spread of fentanyl is a priority for the Department of Justice.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration determined in its investigation that Kay had met with Skaggs and had text exchanges with him regarding drugs the night before the pitcher was found dead in his suburban Dallas hotel room.

Kay was placed on leave by the Angels shortly after the incident and has not actively worked for the team in more than a year.

Attorney Michael Molfetta, who had been representing Kay, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The criminal complaint details the DEA’s findings as it relates to Kay and a victim the document identifies as “T.S.,” who was found dead in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room on July 1, 2019.

According to the DEA, Kay had been supplying fentanyl since 2017.

On the afternoon of July 1, police were called to investigate the body in the Southlake Hilton. Pills and a white substance were found in the room, and they were sent for analysis that determined they contained fentanyl.

The investigators also found text messages between Kay and Skaggs from the afternoon of June 30 in which Kay asked “Hoe (sic) many?” and Skaggs replied “Just a few like 5.” Later that night, after hotel records indicated the two had entered their rooms in the Texas hotel, they texted each other again and arranged to meet.

The DEA affidavit concluded through its investigation that Kay had “a history of narcotic transactions, including several transactions wherein Kay acquired oxycodone pills for T.S. and others from Kay’s source(s) and distributed these pills to T.S. others. Kay had multiple contacts with some of these source(s) in the days leading up to and surrounding T.S.’s overdose death.”

The DEA also reported that “several individuals who were associated with Kay and T.S. knew that Kay provided pills to T.S.”

The Angels have consistently denied that anyone else in the organization was aware either of Skaggs’ drug use or that Kay had been involved. Kay told ESPN in October that former communications director Tim Mead and traveling secretary Tom Taylor were aware, but both denied having any knowledge.

The Angels on Friday morning released a statement indicating that the organization had conducted its own investigation of the incident and found no one in the organization besides Kay was involved.

“We learned that there was unacceptable behavior inconsistent with our code of conduct, and we took steps to address it,” the statement said. “Our investigation also confirmed that no one in management was aware, or informed, of any employee providing opioids to any player, nor that Tyler was using opioids.

“As we try to heal from the loss of Tyler, we continue to work with authorities as they complete their investigation.”

Skaggs’ family has been waiting for the conclusion of investigations by the DEA and local law enforcement before deciding if they want to go forward with civil action, according to attorney Rusty Hardin, who is representing the family.

The family could sue the Angels for wrongful death if they believe the organization was even partially negligent in its treatment of Skaggs, contributing to his death.

Because California is a proportional liability state, the family would only need to convince a jury that the Angels were partially liable for the death. The Angels could then be forced to pay the family a proportional amount of whatever damages a the courts deem appropriate.

Skaggs, who died just shy of his 28th birthday, spent most of his big league career with the Angels, including the last six years.

Months after his death, the Tarranty County Medical Examiner released autopsy results that showed that Skaggs had dangerous opioids fentanyl and oxycodone in his system, along with alcohol.

Skaggs official cause of death was asphyxiation on stomach contents — he choked on his own vomit — but according to the DEA the primary cause was the fentanyl.

“It was later determined that but for the fentanyl in T.S.’s system,” the report said, “T.S. would not have died.”

 

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Statement is clear that no one in management knew.  Doesn’t say anything about the players.  I know some will say management is covering their asses but it actually seems plausible to me.  It’s more plausible than the players saying they had no clue what was going on...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, halonatic13 said:

Shouldn't it be the cooks?  Or better yet, the inventory manager?  Or better than better yet, the supplier?  

But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

b996983037931a0b6e48e6caa8201c73.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...