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Mayor Anthony Ray
Silva, 41, was also charged with three misdemeanor counts -
contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child endangerment
and furnishing alcoholic beverages to individuals under the
legal drinking age of 21, according to a criminal complaint
filed in court.
Silva is accused of using his cellphone to make an audio
recording of conversation among several young people, including
a 16-year-old boy, who were playing strip poker with the mayor
inside his cabin at the camp.
Prosecutors said in a media statement it was evident that the
participants, who were naked, were recorded against their will.
Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe said those present
besides the mayor included two to three females and three males,
all ranging in age from 18 to 20.
The criminal complaint further accuses Silva of supplying
alcohol to six underage youths. Prosecutors said some were camp
counselors.
The incidents, according to prosecutors, took place last August
at the Stockton Silver Lake Camp in Amador County, which lies in
California Gold Country on the edge of the Sierras northeast of
Stockton.
In addition to hosting unprivileged children at the city-leased
camp each summer, Silva has served as president of the Boys &
Girls Clubs of Stockton for the past six years.
Silva's lawyer, Mark Reichel, told Reuters his client "will be
vindicated" and suggested the case was politically motivated,
noting that the mayor, a Republican, faces a tough election
run-off in November against a Democratic city councilman.
Asked whether Silva was playing strip poker with youths from his
camp, Reichel replied, "I highly doubt it." Reichel added, "I
can't wait to fight them in court, so we can expose the epidemic
of kids at summer camp playing strip poker."
Silva was elected mayor of Stockton, a city of about 300,000
east of San Francisco, in November 2012, months after the
municipality filed for bankruptcy. The city emerged from
bankruptcy protection in February 2015.
Silva, who is not married, was arrested by FBI agents Thursday
morning at the camp and released on $20,000 bond later in the
day.
His next court date is Aug. 18. If convicted of the charges, he
could face up to three years in prison.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Tom Brown, Bill Rigby and
Bernard Orr)
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