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Satanica

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Tyler Skaggs, 27, unexpectedly died on Monday in North Texas, the Angels announced. Skaggs’ body was found in a Hilton hotel room in Southlake on Monday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene and no foul play is suspected, Southlake police said in a statement.
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Skaggs started the Angels' game Saturday night against the Athletics. He had been a regular in the Angels' starting rotation since late 2016, when he returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly over the past three seasons but persevered to become a valuable starter in Los Angeles' injury-plagued rotation. He started 15 games, going 7-7.

The Rangers also offered their condolences to the Angels and Skaggs' family.

"The Texas Rangers organization wants to express its deepest sympathies to the family of Tyler Skaggs and to the entire Angels organization on this shocking loss," the Rangers said in a statement. "The thoughts and prayers of every member of the Texas Rangers and all of their fans are with the Angels organization at this difficult time."

Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said the rest of the Angels series is planned to go on as scheduled starting Tuesday, but that could change because “real life takes precedence.”

Skaggs was born in Woodland Hills, Calif in 1991. He spent most of his career with the Angels (2014, 2016-19) but began his playing days with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2012-13).

The Diamondbacks franchise said in a statement that it was "heartbroken" over Skaggs' death.

"He will always be remembered here as a great teammate and wonderful young man," the team said.
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Accidental drug overdose which makes sense if these were not prescription meds and he wasn't used to getting fucked up on them. Obviously, the ones he had/was given didn't come with any warnings.

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died from a lethal mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone when he was found unresponsive in a North Texas hotel room while in town to face the Texas Rangers.

Skaggs’ family said they’re shocked that an employee of the Los Angeles Angels played a part in his death. They released a statement that said in part:

We are heartbroken to learn that the passing of our beloved Tyler was the result of a combination of dangerous drugs and alcohol. That is completely out of character for someone who worked so hard to become a Major League baseball player and had a very promising future in the game he loved so much.
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The Southlake Police Department’s investigation into Skaggs’ death is ongoing.

His family vowed they will “not rest until we learn the truth about how Tyler came into possession of these narcotics, including who supplied them.”

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Yeah the team is not handing out fentanyl, however they may have played a part in hooking him on opiates. Pro sports teams are famous for pilling up their players so they can play injured.

I heard an interview recently with a retired athlete who said the trainer walked down the aisle of the chartered flight handing out painkillers to whomever wanted them, injured or not (think it was a football player). I would hope they are bit more careful these days...but A LOT of money is at stake and these players are just pieces of meat. Rich pieces of meat, but still...
 
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Eric Prescott Kay, who was the communications director for the Angels, was charged with conspiracy to distribute a mixture containing detectable amounts of fentanyl, and was arrested in Fort Worth.

Kay, 45, was interviewed by authorities, and reportedly said he didn’t know whether Skaggs was a drug user, and he hadn’t seen Skaggs since he checked into the hotel.

But investigators found text messages on Skaggs’ phone that showed he had asked Kay to stop by his room with pills.

It was later learned by investigators that Kay had lied to them, and told another Angels employee that he visited Skaggs’ room the night of his death.

The Drug Enforcement Administration determined that Kay would regularly give the blue M/30 pills – dubbed “blue boys” – to Skaggs and others.

Kay made his first court appearance Friday morning, and faces up to 20 years in federal prison if he’s found guilty.

 
Yeah, that privilege is great until you overdose.

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LOS ANGELES (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – The family of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed lawsuits Tuesday in Texas and California charging the team and two former employees with negligence in his drug-related death two years ago.

The lawsuits — filed by Skaggs’ parents in Texas and his wife in California — name the Angels organization as well as former Los Angeles communications directors Tim Mead and Eric Kay as defendants.
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Kay was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on drug charges for allegedly providing Skaggs with the drugs that caused his overdose death.

Kay was charged with drug distribution and drug conspiracy in Skaggs’ overdose death, according to the indictment in Fort Worth, Texas. The charges carry a maximum of a life sentence and 20 years in prison, respectively. His trial is set to begin Aug. 16.

A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit with a toxic mix of alcohol and the drugs fentanyl and oxycodone in his system, which Kay was accused of providing.

Kay was the Angels’ director of communications, and he served as their public relations contact on many road trips. He was placed on leave shortly after Skaggs’ death, and he never returned to the team.

Mead was Kay’s boss, and the lawsuits allege that Mead knew about Kay’s issues with drug addiction, including that he was distributing drugs to players.

“In spite of this knowledge, the Angels continued to allow Kay to have unrestricted access to the players and even permitted him to accompany the team when it traveled for away games,” the suit says.
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Team officials have said they had not been aware that Skaggs was an opioids user and didn’t know any employees were providing drugs to players.

Skaggs’ parents, Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, filed their suit in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth, Texas. His wife, Carli Skaggs, filed her complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“As you might expect, the decision to file these complaints has been a very difficult one for Tyler’s parents and his wife,” said the family’s attorney Rusty Hardin. “Nothing will ease the pain and heartache of losing their only child and, for Carli, her husband and soulmate. But they want to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Tyler’s tragic, untimely and completely avoidable death, and to hold the individuals and entities — including the Angels — accountable for the actions that contributed to it.

“As the federal grand jury indictment made plainly and painfully clear, were it not for the fentanyl in the counterfeit pill provided by Angels employee Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today. And if the Angels had done a better job of supervising Eric Kay, Tyler would be alive today.”

The Angels released the following statement on the matter:

“The Angels have been informed that a civil suit has been filed by the Skaggs family,” said Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey.
“In 2019, Angels Baseball hired a former federal prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation to comprehensively understand the circumstances that led to Tyler’s tragic death. The investigation confirmed that the Organization did not know that Tyler was using opioids, nor was anyone in management aware or informed of any employee providing opioids to any player.
The lawsuits are entirely without merit and the allegations are baseless and irresponsible. The Angels Organization strongly disagrees with the claims made by the Skaggs family and we will vigorously defend these lawsuits in court.”


 

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Eric Prescott Kay faces charges of drug distribution and drug conspiracy in Skaggs' death. Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday in a trial that has been postponed several times.

Federal prosecutors allege in court documents that Kay obtained oxycodone pills from various sources and distributed them to Skaggs and others from at least 2017 to 2019. Prosecutors say Kay also used the pills himself.
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Kay was the Angels’ director of communications, and he served as their public relations contact on many road trips. He was placed on leave shortly after Skaggs’ death, and never returned to the team.

Team officials have said they had not been aware that Skaggs was an opioids user and didn’t know any employees were providing drugs to players.

Five major league pitchers and former Angels infielder C.J. Cron are on the government’s witness list. Most would testify that Kay provided drugs to Skaggs and others, according to court records.

Boston’s Garrett Richards, who spent his first eight big league seasons with the Angels, would testify that Kay once asked him for unused oxycodone pills, according to prosecutors, who declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

Attorneys for Kay didn't return messages seeking comment. Kay has been free on his own recognizance.

Prosecutors allege Kay provided Skaggs counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl the day before Skaggs was found dead.
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Andrew Heaney of the New York Yankees, one of Skaggs’ closest friends when they were teammates, is on the witness list along with three other former Angels in Cam Bedrosian, Matt Harvey and Blake Parker.

The government’s filing said Heaney would testify about his attempts to reach Skaggs the day he was found dead and interactions between Kay and Skaggs.

According to court filings, Kay spent about a month in drug rehab over oxycodone use starting in April 2019, a little more than two months before Skaggs died. Kay was on that trip to Texas.

"The evidence that Kay was a drug user is relevant to showing Kay’s motive and opportunity to obtain oxycodone pills," prosecutors wrote in one of their filings.


 

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Eric Kay, the former Angels communications director, was convicted on both counts in the case. Prosecutors said he gave Skaggs oxycodone laced with fentanyl.
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The jury came back with a unanimous verdict in about three hours. Kay had no visible reaction to the verdict and was taken immediately into custody by U.S. Marshals immediately following the verdict, which was read Thursday afternoon in a federal courtroom in Fort Worth.
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"It’s a tragedy. There’s no winners in any of this," said defense attorney Reagan Wynn after the verdict was read. "Eric Kay is getting ready to do minimum 20 years in federal penitentiary, and it goes up from there, and Tyler Skaggs is gone."

In closing arguments Thursday morning, U.S. Attorneys said Kay was Skaggs’ drug dealer and called Kay a ‘pill pusher.’ They said Kay was the one person Skaggs texted that night and invited to his hotel room.

U.S. Attorneys said Kay looked at places like offer up for drugs and had customers. During the trial, jurors heard from five former Angels players that got oxycodone from Kay. U.S. Attorneys said he intentionally distributed the drugs to Skaggs knowing they could contain fentanyl.

But the defense accused U.S. Attorneys of misrepresenting evidence and argued there could have been other drug suppliers outside of Kay. They pointed at others kay was communicating with about drugs and referring to testimony from Skaggs’ drug dealer in California.

Defense attorneys also argued Skaggs could’ve been given the pills somewhere else -- in the clubhouse, at the airport, or on the plane.

Ultimately, in a case that brought widespread attention to painkiller abuse among MLB players, that argument was not enough to convince the jury.

"We are obviously disappointed in the verdict, we thought there were many reasons to doubt the government’s case," Wynn said.

Paul Coggins is a former federal prosecutor who is not part of the case. In the end, he says the prosecution was stronger.

"I think the prosecution was able to show sort of a pattern here," he said. "There was a pattern of dealing. There was a pattern of transactions, and this just fell in that pattern."

Coggins tried to pinpoint where the defense went wrong.

"I think you have to start by the realization that the defense didn’t have a lot of great cards to play," he said. "They weren't able to overcome the fact that Kay was the go-to provider for the team."

Coggins was not surprised Kay didn’t testify and says if he had, it would have been a Hail Mary for the defense.

"I know the prosecutor pretty well, and my guess is that Lindsay Beran would have probably beaten the defendant like a piñata on the stand," he said.
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Months after Skaggs died, Major League Baseball announced mandatory drug tests for opioids and cocaine.

It’s unclear how this trial may impact the league moving forward.

"I don’t know if it will have a long term impact," Coggins said. "But you saw that it had a long term impact on the lives of some of those teammates."

The Skaggs family released a statement expressing relief the verdict, though they continue to grieve. The family attorney adds they’re looking forward to the upcoming civil cases filed against the Angels and holding the team accountable.

Kay will be sentenced on June 28, 2022. Any potential appeal by Kay's attorneys would come after the sentence is announced.


 
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