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A former communications director for the Los Angeles Angels was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in federal prison for giving a fatal dose of painkillers to pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
Skaggs, 27, was found dead in a Hilton hotel in Southlake on July 1, 2019, shortly before a four-game series against the Texas Rangers was set to begin.In February, a jury found Eric Kay, who had worked for the team for more than 20 years, guilty of selling fentanyl-laced pills to the pitcher. Skaggs had ethanol, fentanyl, and oxycodone in his system when he died, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.
Kay, 47, was convicted of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
During the trial, multiple athletes who played for the Angels told jurors that they got 30-milligram oxycodone pills from Kay. The players also testified that Kay conducted deals at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Kay told investigators that he didn’t know that Skaggs used drugs, and that he last saw Skaggs on June 30, 2019, while the team was checking into the hotel. But a search of Skaggs’ phone revealed text messages suggesting that the Angels pitcher requested Kay to stop by his room with pills later that day, authorities said.
Kay also admitted to a coworker that he had visited Skaggs on the night of his overdose, according to prosecutors
Investigators found multiple pills inside Skaggs’ hotel room, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. One of the pills was blue and had a marking that read “M/30.” Authorities learned the pill had been laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opiate over 100 times more potent than oxycodone.
The Drug Enforcement Agency said Kay regularly dealt drugs that resembled that blue pill.
Although Kay’s lawyers argued there was no way to know for certain whether fentanyl was responsible for Skaggs’ death, medical experts testified that they believed it was the cause for the fatal overdose.
At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented jailhouse calls and emails from Kay that showed “his lack of remorse,” the U.S. attorney’s office said, adding that he “repeatedly insulted” Skaggs and his family.
“I hope people realize what a piece of s— he is,” Kay said of Skaggs during a jailhouse call with his mother, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
He suggested his mother plant negative stories about Skaggs’ family in the media, according to authorities, saying that they were “white trash” and only out for money.
Kay also insulted the jurors who convicted him, calling them “fat, sloppy, toothless, and unemployed,” prosecutors said.
He faced a minimum of 20 years in prison but Judge Terry R. Means, who carried out the sentencing, said he added two years because of the comments Kay made.
Kay did not react as his sentence was handed out, nor did members of his or Skaggs’ families.
“The Skaggs family learned the hard way: One fentanyl pill can kill,” U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham said following the sentencing. “That’s why our office is committed to holding to account anyone who deals in illicit opioids, whether they operate in back alleyways or world class stadiums.”
Kay’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.