April 19, 2007

Silva faces Almaden parents, community

Convicted child molester who previously held library concessions contract addresses public concerns

By Ali Abdollahi
Staff Writer

Mike Silva offered his critics in the Almaden community the opportunity to meet with him face to face April 12. Silva, the man who found himself in the middle of a firestorm after he was awarded a city contract to operate a concessions stand at the library despite pleading guilty to molesting his two young daughters in 1986, explained his side of the story during the heated and emotional meeting at the Almaden Library and Community Center.

“The point of this meeting is to try to allay the hysteria. There’s nothing else in this for me,” said Silva, who told the roughly two-dozen attendees that his contract for the concessions stand was already lost.

Silva continues to profess his innocence, claiming that he accepted a plea bargain to spare his daughters, who were 4 and 6 years old at the time, the trauma of cross-examination. “Lord only knows what my daughters went through,” said Silva, referring to the investigation, which followed a contentious child custody battle. “And as a father, I was not going to add to it.”

Silva says he accepted a plea bargain to spare his daughters the trauma of enduring testifying on a witness stand, which reduced the charges to a misdemeanor, yet placed him on five-year probation, during which he was not to have contact with his daughters. Despite successfully completing his probation, Silva’s name was still in the sex offender database when Megan’s Law was enacted in 1996, and during the subsequent creation of the Megan’s Law Web list that identifies registered sex offenders.

“I should have never been on the Megan’s Law list. That’s where this all started,” Silva said. Silva has since successfully removed his name from the Web site.

Therapist Carol Marks, who has counseled over 250 people, including Silva, who claim they were falsely accused of child molestation, attended the community meeting in support of Silva. “There are certain family dynamics in cases where sexual abuse takes place,” said Marks, “(Silva’s) is not it.”

Marks claims that Silva’s case was part of a “phenomenon in divorce cases” in the late 1980s in which allegations of molestation were used by one parent against the other to secure custody of the children.

After accepting the plea bargain, Silva tried to move on with his life. The public uproar began when the mother of a Simonds Elementary School student recognized Silva from the Megan’s Law list on the California Department of Justice Web site. The mother contacted library officials, who she claims said they were aware of Silva’s status. “I was shocked,” said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous. “My kids go to the library and I want them safe.”

Word of the issue spread like wildfire, quickly becoming the topic of conversation at local PTA meetings and prompting calls and complaints to library staff and District 10 Councilmember Nancy Pyle.

Said Pyle, “Obviously, the city should do everything possible to make the library safe for our children. It’s a shame it ever got this far. We need to look at the RFP process, when children are involved, and do thorough background checks.” Pyle chose not to attend the meeting and said she was against the idea because she feared for Silva’s safety.

According to library director Jane Light, checking for registered sex offenders was not a requirement of the contract with the city, and Silva did not reveal to her that he was on the list.

Light, who was unable to attend the meeting, said Silva's contract has been terminated and will not be reinstated. “The city is modifying its process and criteria for such contracts in the future,” Light said in an email. “When that is complete, we will issue a new request for proposal for a vendor at Almaden. The library has a long list of potential vendors who have asked to have the opportunity to bid on the contract and I have no doubt that we will find an excellent provider for this service.”

Despite losing his contract with the city, Silva wanted to clear his name during the community meeting. His comments, however, provoked some angry responses from some in attendance. “I think you’re a con-man,” said one man. “I’m appalled that you conned your way in here. You say that this started with you being recognized from the Megan’s Law site. That’s not true. This started when you were convicted of molesting your children.”

An Almaden mother with young children added, “I am not judging you. But you are asking me to let you prove your innocence through my children. How can you ask me to do that?”

Even after hearing Silva explain his version of the story, several parents at the meeting were less than sympathetic. Some argued that the lack of evidence Silva claims led to the plea bargain could have also led to a dismissal during the pre-trial period.

“I would never have let anyone think that I harmed my child,” said one man.

“You should have stood up for yourself,” said a mother in attendance. “I would’ve fought tooth and nail.”
“What you do with your children is none of our business, until you come to a place like this,” said an attendee. “You’re not worth it. Nobody’s worth it.”

Silva attempted to provide the audience with an understanding of his perspective. “I am more afraid of you than you are afraid for your children,” said Silva, who claimed that he now avoids almost any contact with children from a fear that more allegations might arise. “My innocence has been taken away from me for life because of this scarlet letter I have to wear.”

Silva has remained estranged from his daughters for over 20 years. “Too much time had gone by. They were already into their teens. I decided I would reconnect with them later in life,” Silva said. He has since remarried and has resided in Almaden for 10 years. He has not had any problems with the law since 1986.

A man in the audience took offense at an account in a newspaper article, which mentioned that Silva stood across the street from his daughter’s graduation and took pictures of all the girls in hopes of identifying his daughter. “What the reporter edited out was the fact that my wife and I sat there together as the procession walked by us into the graduation, as I took pictures. There were other parents there taking pictures too. But when I got home I realized I didn’t recognize my daughter at all and I put the pictures away and never looked at them again. It was devastating to me. Imagine if you hadn’t seen your child for 11 years? You probably wouldn’t recognize them too.”

At the end of the meeting a tall, sturdily built man approached Silva. “I have lived in Almaden for 20 years,” he said, “and I was fascinated by your story. I had to come see for myself what you had to say and I have to tell you I consider this an Almaden witch-hunt. I’m embarrassed to be an Almaden resident.”

“I understand that this issue brings up a lot of hot-button issues,” said Silva after the meeting, “and that’s why I wanted people to be able to ask me questions directly. I’d say two-thirds of the people in the room were positive but those who were negative were very vocal. And I want to remind people that until last week they believed that the Duke University lacrosse players were guilty and last week they were exonerated. False allegations do occur and it affects the accused for a lifetime.”

Jeanne Carbone Lewis contributed to this article.