The mayor of Fairfax City, Virginia, was arrested early Friday after police say he tried to give methamphetamine to undercover detectives in exchange for sex.
Mayor Richard “Scott” Silverthorne, 50, was nabbed in the parking lot of a Crowne Plaza Hotel as part of a sting operation, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release. He was charged with felony distribution of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
The operation began in late July, when the department’s Organized Crime and Narcotics Division received a tip about a meth distributor.
The suspect — later identified as Silverthorne — was allegedly distributing meth through a website used to arrange casual sex between men, Fairfax County Capt. Jack Hardin said at a news conference. He declined to name the site.
In May, Silverthorne won his third term as mayor of Fairfax, a city of 24,000 just west of Washington, D.C. He had also been employed as a substitute teacher for the Fairfax County Public Schools since April.