Eric Kay indicted in overdose death of Tyler Skaggs

According to the LA Times, a federal grand jury in Texas has indicted former Angels employee Eric Kay on two counts in the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. According to the report, the indictment charges Kay with distributing the fentanyl that resulted in Skaggs’ death last year.

Here’s what the indictment said:

“On or about June 30, 2019 … Eric Prescott Kay, the defendant, did knowingly and intentionally distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, and the use of said substance resulted in the death and serious bodily injury of [Skaggs],”

It also alleges Kay and unspecified “others” conspired to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl “beginning in or before 2017.”

On August 7, Kay was arrested by federal authorities and was charged with distributing fentanyl. He hadn’t entered a plea. Kay had worked in the Angels’ media relations department for 24 years. The deadline to indict Kay was extended twice after the initial charge as both sides discussed a plea bargain.

Skaggs passed away in his hotel room July 1, 2019, in Southlake, Texas, before the Angels were scheduled to start a series against the Texas Rangers. The toxicology report by the Tarrant County medical examiner found fentanyl and oxycodone in his system and listed the cause of death as “alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone intoxication with terminal aspiration of gastric contents.”

According to the affidavit supporting the criminal complaint, Kay visited Skaggs late at night June 30 in response to his request for pills. The filing included text messages between the two men.

“Hoe [sic] many?” Kay wrote on the afternoon of June 30.

“Just a few like 5,” Skaggs responded.

“Word,” Kay said.

Per the LA Times report, investigators found a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl in Skaggs’ room and “white residue” on the floor that tested positive for fentanyl.

“It was later determined that but for the fentanyl in [Skaggs’] system, [he] would not have died,” Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Geoffrey Lindenberg wrote in the affidavit.

Kay and Skaggs had a “history of narcotic transactions,” the affidavit alleged, and Kay provided opioids to “[Skaggs] and others in their place of employment and while they were working.”