SILVER LAKE — Anthony Silva was arrested Thursday morning at his Mayor’s Youth Camp in Silver Lake and charged with 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.

Five unmarked law enforcement vehicles rolled onto the rustic grounds of the Stockton Municipal Camp at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, two of them parked so they would block the one-lane road to enter and exit the site. The smell of pine trees perfumed the cool morning air.

Thirty minutes later, without incident, Silva was driven away by officers in one of the unmarked vehicles and taken to the Amador County Jail, where he was booked by Amador County sheriff’s officers.

Silva’s first court date is scheduled for Aug. 16 at Amador County Superior Court. The Amador County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI are the investigating agencies.

About three hours after his newest scandal exploded Thursday, the unshaven Silva posted bail, which was set at $20,000, and walked out of the jail wearing a dark T-shirt, baggy shorts, white socks and sandals.

He had no comment for a cluster of reporters before being driven away in a waiting vehicle. The voicemail box on his cellphone was full Thursday night, which is not unusual, and he did not respond to questions in a text message.

Silva, 41, already was mired in a major controversy before Thursday — the revelation last week that his missing gun was used in the murder of 13-year-old Rayshawn “Ray Ray” Harris last year in south Stockton.

Speaking of Silva’s arrest on the Silver Lake charges Thursday, attorney Mark Reichel said the mayor told him he plans “to fight this 100 percent.”

“That’s all we talked about,” Reichel said. “We agreed we are going to fight this tooth and nail and it’s going to be ugly because the FBI is involved.”

Details of the strip poker game appear in a profanity-laced transcript of an audio recording that is included in an affidavit filed at Amador County Superior Court. The affidavit indicates the investigation was conducted by the FBI and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.

“Mayor Silva allowed and encouraged persons under 21 years of age (including a 16-year-old) to consume alcohol for the purpose of getting intoxicated so he … could involve, and participate with, such persons in sexually suggestive behavior such as strip poker,” the 19-page affidavit says.

Officially, Silva is charged with a felony for making the recording and misdemeanors for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, furnishing alcohol to individuals younger than 21 and child endangerment.

According to the lurid transcript, Silva never had permission to record the teenage participants in the alcohol-fueled game of strip poker. Silva was 40 at the time of the poker game, which included as many as five teens.

“Give us our clothes back,” one of the young women says at one point in the transcript. Another teen speaks of being “butt naked” and a third says she is “done with these (expletive) drinking bets.”

“All of the participants in the strip poker game at some point were naked,” one participant, identified as an 18-year-old female, told investigators later.

She said others in the game, besides Silva, were a 16-year-old boy, two 19-year-old males and a 19-year-old female. In his interview, the boy said he was not at the strip poker game. Others interviewed varied in their accounts of the number and identities of participants.

The camp at Silver Lake has existed for nearly a century, and Silva has run the youth camp in recent years. This year’s camp, for underprivileged children and youths ages 5 to 17, began Monday and was scheduled to end today.

The facility where the camp is held is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. The city leases the camp, which dates back nearly a century and is two hours from Stockton, for $1 a year. The city was working to reunite all campers with their families Thursday, but it was not immediately clear whether that effort was completed.

N. Allen Sawyer, who had been Silva’s political consultant, said Thursday afternoon he now is part of the defense team for the mayor.

After speaking to Silva following the mayor’s arrest Thursday, Sawyer said, “His demeanor was he was very concerned about the camp not being able to finish correctly. And then he was just angry. He wants to fight it and he says he is 100 percent innocent.”

Silva is three months away from the November election, when he is to seek a second term as mayor. His opponent, City Councilman Michael Tubbs, beat Silva by a margin of 33.4 percent to 24.1 percent in the eight-candidate June primary.

Tubbs did not return a phone message Thursday. Neither did Councilwoman Christina Fugazi, an ally of Silva's. Three of the other four council members — Dan Wright, Susan Lofthus and Michael Blower — called on Silva to resign immediately.

Said Lofthus: “It’s just one more black eye for the city.”

Said Blower: “The image of this city has been tarnished time and again by this guy. It’s time for this to end. And if the allegations are true, as the father of two daughters I’m pretty disgusted.”

Said Wright: “This is a new level. There have always been allegations about the mayor. If the mayor did this he should do the right thing and resign. I’m appealing to him on moral grounds.”

Councilman Elbert Holman said it is up to Silva whether he chooses to remain in office while his case is adjudicated. Sawyer said Silva is not planning to resign.

“Right now (resigning) is the least of his concerns,” Sawyer said. “He has to deal with this case before he deals with the issue of how this is going to impact the election. We have not talked about it.”

Holman said the council will be able to function even amid the controversy, beginning Tuesday night, when Silva presumably will be running the next council meeting.

“I think the council will be fine as far as conducting business,” Holman said.

City Attorney John Luebberke declined comment Thursday on the Silva scandal and its ramifications for Stockton. But according to the city’s charter, if Silva did resign, Fugazi would become the acting mayor because she is Silva’s appointee as vice mayor.

For the longer-term replacement, all eligible Stockton voters and the other council members then could apply to serve out the rest of Silva’s term if he stepped down, and the council could choose one of them in an interview process.

Silva’s term expires Dec. 31. Election Day is Nov. 8. If Silva decided to end his re-election by next Friday, Tubbs would be the only candidate on the November ballot. If Silva continues his re-election bid past next Friday, his name would appear on the ballot in November even if he dropped out of the race before Election Day.

The FBI became involved in the investigation after the mayor was detained by federal agents for 25 minutes on Sept. 28 at San Francisco International Airport upon his return from a tour of China. Agents searched his belongings and confiscated his cellphone, a city laptop and his personal laptop.

Silva at that time issued a 491-word statement in which he wrote he was “confident” a forensic study of his seized laptops and cellphone would prove he was not engaged in “illegal or inappropriate activities.” Two law enforcement sources at the time said the confiscations were tied to an ongoing investigation into Silva.

Thursday’s affidavit, written by investigator Terrence Brass of the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, reports that more than 5,000 photographs were on the cellphone, including 23 photos and four videos from last year’s Silver Lake camp. One of those videos, Brass wrote, contained the audio of the strip poker game.

Brass’ report also says past recording incidents involving Silva factored into the investigation. In 2013, Silva publicly announced he had secretly and illegally recorded a conversation with then-City Manager Bob Deis without his consent. No action was taken.

Another individual quoted in the affidavit told investigators Silva has a camera installed in the bedroom of his current residence in Spanos Park and that “there are a number of cameras installed at the Kids Club.” Silva is heavily involved with the Kids Club.

In 2005, Silva was investigated after a report was filed by the Stockton Unified Police Department. According to that police report, a confidential informant accused Silva of “bragging about taping female juveniles using the restroom and changing clothing at his residence.” Silva was on the school board at the time. No charges were filed.

“The No. 1 way to come and destroy me or hurt me is the sexual type of charges, those types of things,” Silva said in a 2012 interview with The Record when he was running for mayor. “When you’re in the public eye and you’re single, people are going to take those shots at you.”

In 2012, a 19-year-old woman accused Silva of committing sexual battery a year earlier, according to a heavily redacted Stockton police report. Again, prosecutors reviewed the evidence and chose not to file charges.

Several young women, promised anonymity, also made allegations against Silva in an article in The Record in 2012 during his mayoral campaign.

One young woman said she stopped wearing two-piece bathing suits after he untied her bikini top while she was working in the presence of children. The same woman also alleged Silva once spiked her drink with vodka when she was underage.

A second young woman said Silva was “flirty” and she told of underage drinking at parties Silva organized. A third former employee spoke of invitations from Silva to drink before she was of age.

Silva denied all the allegations.

Said Silva in 2012: “I need to do a better job when I’m out in the public of making sure that there’s no perception that I’m a player, I’m a playboy or something like that.”

— Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.