Stockton mayor accused of filming strip poker at youth camp

Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva was arrested Thursday on charges that he supplied alcohol to underage counselors at a city-run youth camp in El Dorado National Forest and surreptitiously recorded a group of young people — including a 16-year-old boy — playing strip poker in Silva’s bedroom at the camp in August 2015.

Silva, who was voted into office in 2012 and is running for re-election, was taken into custody Thursday morning at the Silver Lake Stockton Family Camp in Amador County, south of Lake Tahoe, where he hosts an annual getaway for inner-city youth on land leased from the U.S. Forest Service.

Silva’s lawyer, Mark Reichel, called the allegations “sensationalized.” He said Silva, who was released after posting $20,000 bail, denies the charges, which stemmed from a long investigation by the FBI.

“He is 100 percent innocent, absolutely,” Reichel said.

Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva’s booking photo after his arrest on Aug. 4, 2016. Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva’s booking photo after his arrest on Aug. 4, 2016. Photo: Amador County Sheriff's Office Photo: Amador County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Stockton mayor accused of filming strip poker at youth camp 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The charges, filed by the Amador County district attorney’s office, prompted calls for Silva’s resignation and represented the latest trouble for a mayor and former Stockton school board trustee who has been investigated in the past for alleged sexual misconduct.

Last week, San Joaquin County prosecutors revealed that a gun stolen from Silva’s home, which he failed to immediately report, was later used to kill a 13-year-old boy in Stockton.

The investigation into Silva’s actions at the youth camp stemmed from an incident last September when federal agents, as part of a larger investigation, seized Silva’s cell phone and two of his laptops at San Francisco International Airport as he returned from a mayors conference in China.

At the time, Silva said he didn’t know why he had been stopped, and was “confident that any forensic search of my personal devices will never ever show illegal or inappropriate activities of any sort.”

But Amador County prosecutors said Thursday that the FBI had retrieved 23 photographs and four video clips from his phone — images they said revealed things that had happened at the camp the previous month.

Prosecutors said witnesses at the camp informed FBI agents that Silva had given alcohol to the participants in the strip poker game, who were all under the age of 21, including a 16-year-old boy.

Silva initially recorded video of the strip poker game, but he put his phone face-down after one of the participants objected, according to the district attorney’s office. Audio continued to be recorded.

The conversation between the participants indicated they were naked in his bedroom and did not want to be recorded, prosecutors said.

Witnesses also allegedly told the FBI that Silva had on occasion made alcohol available to underage camp counselors and had installed cameras in his bedroom in Stockton and at the nonprofit Stockton Kid’s Club.

Silva was charged with one felony count of recording confidential communications and three misdemeanor counts: contributing to the delinquency of a minor, furnishing alcohol to people under 21 and child endangerment.

Silva has been linked in the past to allegations of sexual abuse and of allowing underage drinking, but the accusations were brought anonymously and have never prompted charges, according to the Stockton Record. Silva has maintained his innocence.

“The No. 1 way to come and destroy me or hurt me is the sexual type of charges, those types of things,” Silva told the Record in 2012. “When you’re in the public eye and you’re single, people are going to take those shots at you.”

Joaquin Palomino and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com , cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino @cdizikes