This investigation began one July 2019 when Mr Skaggs, Then just 27 years old, was found dead in a local hotel room. Days before he was scheduled to start. In a game against the Texas Rangers. Inside the room, investigators discovered a number of pills, Including a single blue pill with the markings. M 30 experts later determined that the pill, which closely resembled 30 mg oxyCODONE tablets, had been laced with fentaNYL. United States Attorney for the Northern district of texas, charged former Angels communication director ERic Prescott Kay, for distributing the fentaNYL that killed Tyler Skaggs Tyler Skaggs death. Coming as it did in the midst of an ascendant baseball career, should be a wake up call. It should prove to as many, many fans that no one is immune from the deadly addictive nature of these drugs, whether sold as a powder or hidden inside an innocuous looking tablet.
Former LA Angels' official convicted in overdose death of MLB pitcher Tyler Skaggs
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Updated: 5:33 PM CST Feb 17, 2022
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Eric Prescott Kay, a former communications director for the Los Angeles Angels, has been found guilty of two charges in the 2019 overdose death of Angels' pitcher Tyler Skaggs, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas said Wednesday.Skaggs, 27, died on July 1, 2019, in a hotel in Southlake, Texas, before the team was set to play the Texas Rangers.Prescott was found guilty Thursday of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent distribute controlled substances, according to the federal prosecutor.Skaggs died by choking on vomit after using drugs and alcohol, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. High levels of opioids, including fentanyl, oxycodone and oxymorphone, were found in his system, as well as alcohol, according to toxicology results.According to court records, a search of Skaggs's phone revealed text messages from the day before his death suggesting that he had asked Kay to stop by his room with pills late that evening.The Drug Enforcement Administration's investigation also found that Kay regularly dealt pills of fentanyl 鈥� dubbed "blue boys" for their blue coloring 鈥� to Skaggs and others in the Angels organization at the stadium where they worked, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.Geoffrey Lindenberg, a DEA special agent, wrote that "but for the fentanyl" in Skaggs's system, the medical examiner determined, the pitcher "would not have died."Skaggs was a first-round draft pick in 2009. After being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, he made his major league debut two years later as a 21-year-old.The Angels reacquired him before the 2014 season and he was 28-38 in his career. He last pitched two days before his death.
SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Eric Prescott Kay, a former communications director for the Los Angeles Angels, has been found guilty of two charges in the 2019 overdose death of Angels' pitcher Tyler Skaggs, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas said Wednesday.
Skaggs, 27, died on July 1, 2019, in a hotel in Southlake, Texas, before the team was set to play the Texas Rangers.
Prescott was found guilty Thursday of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent distribute controlled substances, according to the federal prosecutor.
Skaggs died by choking on vomit after using drugs and alcohol, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. High levels of opioids, including fentanyl, oxycodone and oxymorphone, were found in his system, as well as alcohol, according to toxicology results.
According to court records, a search of Skaggs's phone revealed text messages from the day before his death suggesting that he had asked Kay to stop by his room with pills late that evening.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's investigation also found that Kay regularly dealt pills of fentanyl 鈥� dubbed "blue boys" for their blue coloring 鈥� to Skaggs and others in the Angels organization at the stadium where they worked, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.
Geoffrey Lindenberg, a DEA special agent, wrote that "but for the fentanyl" in Skaggs's system, the medical examiner determined, the pitcher "would not have died."
Skaggs was a first-round draft pick in 2009. After being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, he made his major league debut two years later as a 21-year-old.
The Angels reacquired him before the 2014 season and he was 28-38 in his career. He last pitched two days before his death.
