No Criminal Charges for Former Top McKee Staffer Silva - Only Guilty of "Poor Judgment"
GoLocalProv News Team
No Criminal Charges for Former Top McKee Staffer Silva - Only Guilty of "Poor Judgment"
The main findings were that Silva's actions did not rise to the level of criminal bribery or extortion charges, nor did his actions constitute an ethics violation.
Neronha's office did find that Silva -- who stepped away from Governor Dan McKee's office as Chief of Staff in August 2021 -- was guilty however of "poor judgment."
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"Having completed an in-depth investigation and legal analysis over many months, we believe that Rhode Islanders are entitled to the full weight of this Office’s opinion about what transpired here. And so we add that from our vantage point, Mr. Silva exercised very poor judgment in involving himself in a personal matter before a state regulatory agency while serving as a high-ranking state official, whether he had official authority over that state agency or not," wrote the office.
"Indeed, this matter illustrates why public officials should take great care when entangling their public positions with their personal business. When high-ranking public officials like Mr. Silva, who by virtue of their public office have a voice or footprint that everyday Rhode Islanders do not, seek to capitalize on their insider access, Rhode Islanders lose."