A former Los Angeles Angels employee facing criminal charges connected with the 2019 fatal drug overdose of pitcher Tyler Skaggs may have also supplied illegal substances to at least five other Major League Baseball players, according to court documents filed Friday.
The documents put forward by federal prosecutors indicate that they intend to present testimony by at least five MLB players who said they were given oxycodone by a former P.R. director for the Angels, Eric Kay.
The filing said that Kay allegedly distributed the drugs through text messages or through conversations involving Skaggs.
“Kay was motivated to obtain these pills because Kay could himself use some of the pills that he obtained for the players,” the filing alleged.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that Kay was allegedly providing drugs to Angels players since 2017.
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Skaggs was 27 years old when he was found dead in his hotel room in Texas in July 2019. The Angels were visiting the state to play the Texas Rangers. It is alleged that Skaggs died from snorting oxycodone provided by Kay that contained fentanyl.
Kay was indicted in Oct. 2020 on two federal counts for distribution of the fentanyl that allegedly resulted in Skaggs’ death. He has pleaded not guilty.
Kay’s trial is set to begin Oct. 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. He also faces a wrongful death civil suit filed by Skaggs’ family in June. That suit also implicated the Angels’ former vice president of communications, Tim Mead.