The mayor of Stockton, California, has been arrested accused of playing strip poker with minors at his youth camp in Amador County.
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The Mayor of Stockton, California, is facing numerous charges related to his alleged involvement in setting up a strip poker game including underage teens during a summer camp he helped operate.
In September 2015, Anthony Silva had his cell phone confiscated by federal agents immediately upon landing at San Francisco International Airport; the anti-LGBT mayor was returning back to the US from a China trip.
“In one of the video clips, it appeared that moments after the video began, the phone was set down, darkening the camera lens and thus only containing audio”, prosecutors said in a statement.
Witnesses also told officers that Silva provided alcohol to the camp counselors, five of whom were underage.
The Record of Stockton (http://bit.ly/2azjCEw) reports City Councilman Dan Wright also called for Mayor Anthony Silva to step down.
Silva, 42, was at the camp he runs for underprivileged youth when he was arrested about 9:30 a.m. Thursday. She also said beer and vodka were present at the camp that hosts 75 children, according to the affidavit. He was released the same day, after posting $20,000 bail. But they say the audio makes it clear the participants, one of whom was a 16-year-old boy, were naked and did not want to be recorded.
Sawyer, who said he had not yet read the affidavit, said he found it odd that federal and local authorities would bring these felony and misdemeanor charges so close to a pending election-Silva’s arraignment would come just one month before the election.
At the time, Silva said he didn’t know why he had been stopped, and was “confident that any forensic search of my personal devices will never ever show illegal or inappropriate activities of any sort”. In 2015, a gun stolen from Silva’s home was connected to multiple crimes, including the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy.
The game allegedly includes Silva, the 16 year old, an 18-year-old female, a 19-year-old female and two 19-year-old males, according to the document.
Silva has a court appearance later this month on the felony charge of secretly recording confidential communications without consent and misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, providing alcohol to people under 21, and child endangerment. “Number three, I never provided alcohol to anyone, and I certainly didn’t secretly record anyone”, Silva said during the press conference.
Silva said he wouldn’t address these charges further because it was a matter for the courtroom. Stockton resident Jasmine Green told ABC7 News her 17-year-old daughter thought about going to the mayor’s camp this year, but decided not to.
Silva has served as president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Stockton for the past six years, according to his official biography. “For the past week I have been raked over the coals by the media because I owned a gun and reported it missing. I am innocent”, Silva said.
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He declined to say what federal authorities were investigating when they seized the phone.
