Witness testifies Angels knew of drug problem

Ex-wife of opioid supplier contradicts team officials, fortifies case for Skaggs family.

- BY STEVE HENSON

JAE C. HONG Pool Photo CARLI SKAGGS, widow of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, is embraced by attorney William Haggerty before trial.

The ex-wife of the Angels employee who gave pitcher Tyler Skaggs fentanyl-laced opioid pills was steadfast in her testimony Monday and Tuesday that Angels executives knew of her then-husband’s opioid abuse for several years before Skaggs died after chopping up and snorting the pills in 2019.

The testimony of Camela Kay directly contradicted that of the Angels’ then-vice president of communications, Tim Mead, and traveling secretary Tom Taylor, both of whom testified during the first week of a trial in Orange County Superior Court that is expected to last until December.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents, Debbie Hetman and Darrell Skaggs, are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Angels and are seeking $118 million in lost earnings, unspecified damages for pain and suffering plus punitive damages.

Camela Kay's testimony fortified the Skaggs family’s contention that the Angels knew that Eric Kay — the team’s communications director of 23 years who is now serving a 22-year prison term for his role in Skaggs’ death — had serious drug problems and that his supervisors and coworkers did not follow team and Major League Baseball policies in dealing with the issues.

Leah Graham, another in the Skaggs family’s deep roster of accomplished attorneys, questioned Camela Kay, taking her through a timeline beginning in 2013 when she first recognized that her husband had a drug problem.

During an Angels road trip to New York to play the Yankees, Eric admitted to her, “I take five Vicodin a day,” Camela testified. She said he made the admission in front of Mead and Taylor, whom she described as shocked, and they told her they “were going to do whatever they could to help him.”