US mayor accused of playing strip poker with youths

LOS ANGELES: The mayor of Stockton, California claimed innocence Friday, one day after he was arrested and accused of providing alcohol to youths and playing strip poker with them.
Prosecutors say that Anthony Ray Silva, 41, also recorded private conversations as he gave alcoholic beverages to a group of young people under the legal drinking age of 21.
Silva held a press conference Friday to insist on his innocence after he was released on US$20,000 (RM80,780) bail.
The Amador County District Attorney's office said in a statement that they were notified on July 26 that Silva was under FBI investigation.
Armed with a search warrant, FBI agents discovered photographs and video clips relating to a 2015 summer youth camp that Silva hosts annually for poor inner-city children.
One clip "contains audio of a conversation between participants involved in a strip poker game that occurred in Silva's bedroom", the statement read.
"The conversation between the participants indicated that they were naked. One of the participants was a 16-year-old male."
The recording "clearly indicates that the participants did not want to be recorded".
At his press conference, Silva said that there were minors present at the event and denied buying alcohol.
Stockton, population 30,000 and located east of San Francisco, suffered record home foreclosures following the 2008 financial crisis and declared bankruptcy four years later, the largest US city after Detroit to do so. — AFP