Advertisement Stockton mayor arrested at youth camp in Amador County Court records: Anthony Silva faces several charges involving minors Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva was arrested Thursday morning at his Stockton youth camp at Silver Lake in Amador County on several charges involving at least one minor and a game of strip poker, records show.Silva, 41, was charged with eavesdropping or recording confidential communications, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, providing alcohol to a minor and cruelty to a child by endangering health, according to court records.The incidents for which Silva is being charged happened between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9, 2015, at the Stockton Silver Lake Camp, according to the Amador County District Attorney.The arrest stems from a September 2015 FBI investigation where Silva’s cell phone was seized by Homeland Security investigators at San Francisco International Airport as he got off a flight from China.One of the clips on Silva’s phone contained audio of several people during a strip poker game in Silva’s bedroom at the camp, the Amador County district attorney said. One of the participants was 16 years old.The district attorney said the audio revealed that participants in the poker game did not want to be recorded. There is no video on the clip, because the phone had been set down, the district attorney said."We're hearing that there was multiple adults present, that there was only one minor present," Silva's attorney Allen Sawyer said Thursday evening.Witnesses stated that Silva supplied alcohol to a number of underage counselors at the camp as well, according to the Amador County district attorney."He absolutely maintains his innocence, and he's looking forward to his day in court and he absolutely believes he will be vindicated," Sawyer said.Click here to read the full criminal complaint.Silva posted his $20,000 bail Thursday afternoon. He then went back to the camp, which is run by the city of Stockton, gathered his belongings and left.Silva was relieved from the camp and another adult is now supervising at this time, the city said in a news release. Law enforcement is also at the camp and that "children are in no immediate danger."Staff members talked to parents in case they wanted to pick up their children or have the city to arrange a way back to Stockton for them, the city said. Parents said they got a call and a recording told them about Silva's arrest."Right away I panicked, like, 'I'm going to go get my son,'" mother Sophia Martinez said.Her 8-year-old son was at the summer camp Thursday. After she picked him up, she asked her son if anything inappropriate."What did you guys do, where did you sleep, who was in the cabin with you, is everything okay?" Martinez said. "That's every parent's fear: to have something like that happen. And you just never know, you don't know who to trust,"Shortly after the seizure last September, Silva insisted the federal government wouldn't find anything incriminating on his devices."They're not gonna find any espionage or anything like that on my computers or my cell phone, but by me giving into that sort of search, when I knew the search was illegal -- and it'll be proven that they have to give the stuff back anyways -- I wasn't protecting the rest of the American people," Silva said.Silva's attorney, Mark Reichel, issued a statement to KCRA earlier Thursday:"They have had all of this evidence for over a year. Unlimited resources have been spent on this in an effort to find something they can investigate. The timing is extremely suspicious as people will only hear 1/2 of the story before the election. He will clear his name."Silva has made headlines Friday after a gun stolen from Silva's home was linked to several crimes in Stockton, including the killing of 13-year-old Rayshawn Harris in 2015.Silva did not report the gun was missing until nearly a month after Rayshawn's death. In the March 2015 report, Silva said that his home had been burglarized and that his .40-caliber Beretta was taken, along with a 100-quart cooler, a generator, a laser printer, a camera and a game console, according to the report.Silva became mayor in January 2013. For eight years prior to that, Silva was the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Stockton, according to Silva's website.Silva is running for re-election in 2016 against Stockton Councilman Michael Tubbs, who came out on top during June's primary election with 33.6 percent of the vote. Silva received 26 percent of the vote.The Stockton Police Officers' Association said it is endorsing Tubbs."There's just been a pattern of behavior that we can't support," board member Kathryn Nance said. "There's just an ongoing, things that have happened since he's been elected that we felt was not conducive to what we were looking for."