From ESPN A public relations employee for the Los Angeles Angels told federal investigators that he provided oxycodone to Tyler Skaggs and abused it with him for years, and that two team officials were told about Skaggs' drug use long before his death, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. Eric Kay, the Angels' director of communications, also gave U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents the names of five other players who he believed were using opiates while they were Angels, the sources said. Kay's attorney, Michael Molfetta, reached late Friday, confirmed the details of Kay's statements, given in separate meetings with DEA agents in Dallas and Los Angeles in late September. Skaggs died in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room on July 1 from choking on his own vomit, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. He was 27. Skaggs' autopsy, released Aug. 30, found evidence of fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system. Outside the Lines reported on Sept. 18 that the DEA had begun an investigation into the source of the fentanyl. Kay told investigators he illegally obtained six oxycodone pills and gave three to Skaggs a day or two before the team left California for the road trip to Texas, according to the two sources. Kay told DEA agents he does not think the pills he obtained for Skaggs were the same ones the pitcher took the day he died because Skaggs typically would ingest the pills immediately after receiving them from Kay, the sources said. Skaggs also texted Kay the day the team left for Texas seeking more oxycodone, a request Kay told investigators he was unable to fulfill, the sources said. Agents initially learned about oxycodone transactions between Kay and Skaggs after reviewing text messages between the two, according to the sources. Kay told DEA investigators that hours before Skaggs' death in July, Skaggs was in his Southlake Hilton hotel room and texted Kay to visit him, according to a source familiar with what Kay told the DEA. Kay also told investigators that Skaggs snorted three lines of crushed opioids in front of him, the sources said. Kay recognized that two of the lines could have been crushed oxycodone, but the third was not a substance he recognized, the sources said. Kay said he did not take any drugs despite being offered them by Skaggs, the sources said, because he was on a medication that would have negated the effects. After Skaggs' cause of death was announced, his family issued a statement, saying, "We were shocked to learn that it may involve an employee of the Los Angeles Angels. We will not rest until we learn the truth about how Tyler came into possession of these narcotics, including who supplied them." On Saturday, the family's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said, "The Skaggs family continues to mourn the loss of a beloved son, brother, husband and son-in-law. They greatly appreciate the work that law enforcement is doing, and they are patiently awaiting the results of the investigation." Kay's mother, Sandy, reached by Outside the Lines, said her son started abusing opioids a few years after his father died in 1998. Eric Kay is currently in outpatient treatment for substance abuse and has been placed on paid leave from the Angels. Kay told investigators that he and Skaggs had worked out an arrangement in which Kay would obtain drugs for Skaggs and himself, and Skaggs would pay for them. Outside the Lines reviewed Venmo transactions alleged to have occurred between Skaggs and Kay, which show a series of payments over two years ranging from $150 to $600. Los Angeles Angels employee details team's knowledge of Tyler Skaggs' drug use to federal DEA investigators -- ESPN https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story...kaggs-drug-use-federal-dea-investigators-espn
