Court Docs: Ex-Angels Staffer Ran Drug Operation in Clubhouse Before Pitcher's Death

In new court documents filed Friday in Fort Worth, Texas, federal prosecutors allege former Los Angeles Angels public relations director Eric Kay may have supplied illegal drugs to at least five other Major League Baseball players in addition to pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Kay is facing a trial beginning on October 4 in connection with the 2019 fatal overdose of Skaggs. He was indicated in October 2020 by a federal grand jury in Texas on two counts of distributing the synthetic opioid fentanyl that resulted in Skaggs' death. He has pleaded not guilty.

The latest documents reveal prosecutors plan to present testimony from five players who claim they received oxycodone from Kay. None of the players are named in the documents, but Friday's filing states that Kay provided "controlled substances, including oxycodone," to players for the Angels players since 2017.

The Los Angeles Times reported all five are willing to take the stand and testify that Kay was the "singular source" who supplied oxycodone to the players.

The prosectors wrote in the filing that witness testimony will corroborate with text message communications between Kay and Skaggs that Kay provided players with pills partly in order for Kay himself to also use some of the drug supply.

"It therefore provides context and background to the distribution at issue in the indictment," the court documents stated.

Amy Dash of the League of Justice also reported the government reportedly has evidence that shows a drug dealer delivered counterfeit pills to Kay at Angel Stadium on June 30, 2019.

Dash wrote the team departed for Texas after Kay obtained the pills on June 30 to play the Rangers. Kay allegedly brought the pills to Skaggs' hotel room at the Southlake Town Square Hilton in Southlake, Texas, at around midnight. Skaggs was later found dead of a fatal overdose on July 1, 2019 in his hotel room.

Another theory that will emerge from the government, according to Dash, is that Kay ran a drug distribution operation within the Angels organization and used Skaggs as a middleman at times. Kay would allegedly use Skaggs to facilitate the distribution of pills to other platers.

In June, Skaggs' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Angels. The lawsuit claimed, "The Angels owed Tyler Skaggs a duty to provide a safe place to work and play baseball."

"The Angels breached their duty when they allowed Kay, a drug addict, complete access to Tyler," the suit from the Skaggs family continued. "The Angels also breached their duty when they allowed Kay to provide Tyler with dangerous illegal drugs. The Angels should have known Kay was dealing drugs to players. Tyler died as a result of the Angels' breach of their duties."