Anthony Silva, a California mayor who has spent much of his adult career as a children’s swim coach, school board president and leader for kids’ camps was arrested Thursday on multiple charges, including playing strip poker with naked teenagers, providing alcohol to minors and illegally recording the activities that are said to have occurred at last year’s camp in the wee hours of Aug. 7, 2015.
- Anthony Ray Silva, 40, has been the mayor of Stockton since 2013
- Silva’s attorney, Mark Reichel, stated the arrest was “highly suspicious” claiming that they were politically motivated and timed as the mayor is up for re-election
That clip contains audio of a conversation between participants involved in a strip poker game that occurred in Silva’s bedroom. The conversation between participants indicated they were naked. One of the participants was a 16-year-old male. The audio of the surreptitious recording clearly indicates that the participants did not want to be recorded. – Todd Riebe, Amador County District Attorney
- Reichel commented that Silva “won’t have enough time to clear his name before the election”
- The investigation has been ongoing for approximately a year and became public 10 months ago when Homeland Security detained the politician and seized his laptops and cell phone in the customs area of the San Fransisco Airport
- A forensic investigation of his devices discovered 23 photographs and four video clips recorded in August 2015 at Stockton Silver Camp where Silva was operating a camp for economically disadvantaged children
- Fox News had an exclusive interview in Oct. 2015 with Silva where he denied allegations that his electronic items were seized as part of a criminal probe into child pornography related charges
- The charges came a week after The Record of Stockton reported that a gun stolen from Silva’s home during a burglary was linked to the murder of a 13-year-old when the mayor did not report the gun stolen until a month after the boy was killed
Number one, everyone there was 18 years old. Number two, I never, ever, ever endangered a child. Ever. Number three, I never provided alcohol to anyone. And I certainly did not secretly record anyone. – Silva
- According to Silva’s attorney, he attempted to assist the District Attorney in the investigation. However, the D.A.’s Office routinely failed to call him back