SACRAMENTO — A court hearing in which ex-Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva was expected to change his plea to federal bank fraud and identity theft charges following a deal with prosecutors was postponed until next month.
Silva previously pleaded not guilty in the case.
On Tuesday, Silva appeared at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in downtown Sacramento, where Judge John A. Mendez postponed the plea change until July 28.
Both Silva’s lawyer and the assistant US attorney prosecuting the case agreed to the delay.
In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Silva with bank fraud and identity theft for allegedly lying on an application for a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The case claims that Silva misrepresented his business, the north Stockton indoor playground Indoor Adventures, as primarily belonging to another stakeholder in order to circumvent loan restrictions that bar business owners recently convicted of — or on probation for — felonies from seeking funds.
Silva, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2016, has a history of legal trouble, having faced charges including embezzlement and grand theft. Most were dropped or reduced.
In 2019, under a previous deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge stemming from claims that while serving as mayor, he funneled city taxes to a nonprofit he headed. Silva received 90 days in jail and three years’ probation.
At court Tuesday, few details were provided about the reason for the delay. Kresta Daly, Silva’s attorney, said in court the postponement was due to a “series of events that started last night,” and that the “parties need to have a further meeting.”
When asked by Mendez, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thuesen confirmed in court that the planned plea agreement was still in place.
Daly declined to comment on Stocktonia’s question via text message about the reason for the delay. Thuesen didn’t immediately return a call for comment.