Tyler Wayne Skaggs was an American left-handed professional baseball starting pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2012 until his death in 2019. According to reports, the government says it has evidence that a drug dealer delivered counterfeit pills responsible for taking the life of LA Angels pitcher, Tyler Skaggs. These drugs were given to an employee at Angel stadium the same day as Skagg’s overdose.
According to legal analyst Amy Dash of League of Justice :
The evidence is not being publicly disclosed and is being held back for trial. It allegedly demonstrates that former Angels’ Communications Director Eric Kay obtained fake oxycodone pills from one of his drug suppliers at Angel stadium on June 30, 2019, just before Kay left with Skaggs and the team for a Texas road trip, according to prosecutors.
Later that night, Kay brought the pills to Skaggs’ hotel room around midnight, according to text messages obtained by federal prosecutors. Skaggs never made it to the game the next day.
The pitcher was found dead in his room at the Town Square Hilton in Southlake the next morning, just before the start of a four-game series against the Rangers.
This information possibly brings large ramifications for the Angels and their involvement in the loss of Skaggs’ life:
Court documents place tremendous emphasis on Kay’s relationship with the team & use of workplace facilities to operate his alleged drug distribution network. Several text exchanges with alleged drug dealers indicate Kay had the drugs delivered to Angel Stadium on more than one occasion, according to prosecutors.
The government’s case extends to a larger theory that Kay was running a drug distribution operation within the Angels organization, allegedly contacting at least nine different drug suppliers to try to obtain pills for various Angels players, often using Skaggs as a middleman, according to government documents.
The family of Tyler Skaggs, has filed two lawsuits against the team, the owner’s business and two former employees alleging wrongful death due to negligence and negligent hiring and supervision.
