Mayor Anthony Silva was arrested yesterday at the camp.
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On Thursday, he was charged with a felony of secretly recording confidential communications without consent.
The day before the mayor and about 80 area-kids left for Silva’s annual youth summer camp in Amador County, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office revealed Silva’s stolen gun was used to kill a teen in 2015. 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.
SAN FRANCISCO The mayor of Stockton, California, who faces charges stemming from a strip poker game that he is accused of initiating at a summer camp he hosts for underprivileged youth, on Friday said he is innocent of criminal wrongdoing.
Armed with a search warrant, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents discovered photographs and video clips relating to a 2015 summer youth camp that Silva hosts annually for poor inner-city children.
According to a Patheos report, the anti-LGBT Republican mayor’s legal troubles got their start during an FBI investigation that took place towards the end of 2015.
The FBI received a warrant to search Silva’s phone late a year ago, according to a statement from county authorities.
“No. 1, everyone there was 18 years old”, said Silva, “No. 2, I never ever ever endangered a child, ever”.
In September 2015, agents from the Department of Homeland Security detained Silva at the San Francisco International Airport as he returned from China with a delegation of Northern California mayors.
One of the video clips – where the phone was put down and recorded only audio – contains “a conversation between participants involved in a strip poker game that occurred in Silva’s bedroom”, the DA’s news release said.
Silva has denied the accusations.
Anthony Silva, the mayor of Stockton, Calif., has a history of freaky, outlandish and questionable behavior.
Silva hasn’t stepped down, but many question if he can ever regain the public’s trust remain.
Silva said he called law enforcement “for advice” about the gun thefts and was told to check and make sure that the guns had not been misplaced by movers. On July 29, it was reported by local media that a gun stolen from the mayor’s home has been linked to multiple crimes in the local area.
“Indecent exposure would mean deliberate showing of underwear”, Silva said to reporters. According to Mark Reichel, the government has had “evidence” against his client for a year, and yet they chose to time his arrest to coincide with his reelection bid.
“It’s strip poker with one minor and young adults and he’s in charge of that camp”, said Riebe.
Prosecutors filed a search warrant a few days ago regarding the case, but Riebe said he could not comment on it because it was filed under seal.
The boy, Rayshawn Harris, was standing in his driveway waiting to go to school on February 23, 2015, when he was gunned down. The woman claims that when she refused Silva’s advances, he grabbed her, spanked her and told her she was being a bad girl.
One was a 16-year-old boy.
He added that the conversation included a male who was 16 years old and that the conversation on the clip indicated the individuals did not want to be recorded.
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Allegations of inappropriate behavior by Silva date back at least 11 years.
