Former viral internet sensation Bryan "Gratata" Silva has been arrested for threatening and sending unsolicited nude photos to a probation officer.
The 34-year-old Charlottesville resident was already in jail on a suspected probation violation when he reportedly used a jailhouse messaging service to threaten senior probation officer Rachel Ann Rossman.
"Im a have you killed," he allegedly messaged Rossman on the SmartInmate messaging service. "I will laugh and watch them kill you."
A week later, Silva is again alleged to have used the messaging service to take a different, but just as inappropriate, approach.
"I miss you so much," he reportedly wrote. "I will move in and marry you to make sure you have more than 1 of my babies."
Silva’s messages, sometimes calling Rossman a "cutie" and other times calling her a receptacle for ejaculate, came after he was released from jail in October after a prior round of alleged probation violations.
Rossman filed a report in late November detailing Silva’s latest alleged violations — which include gang participation and possession of weapons or ammunition — as well as a flurry of messages he sent earlier in November while warning his probation officer that he intended to break a scheduled appointment.
The officer asked Silva if he was avoiding the meeting due to the presence of drugs in his urine.
"I’m not dirty," Silva replied. "I will piss right now."
Silva then sent the officer a gift card for $50 worth of goods from bodybuilding supplement brand Old School Labs. Next, he sent $40 in Apple Cash to Rossman.
"Ima use this on you cutie," Silva allegedly wrote to her while texting a picture of himself holding a product called MaxFuel Male Enhancement.
Rossman reported that Silva also sent her two pictures of his penis.
He was arrested and jailed Nov. 22, the day of her report.
Silva found internet fame in 2014, when he was 23, with a short video on the the now-defunct Vine app pantomiming a pistol in a bathroom mirror while saying "Gratata," a phonetic version of machine-gun sounds.
Silva briefly parlayed his fame into a stint acting in gay pornography. Today, he is an amateur bodybuilder operating an OnlyFans account featuring him having sex with women, an enterprise he claims earns him six figures in annual revenue.
He has contradicted that claim in court. He told the magistrate handling his Nov. 22 booking that he earns $10,000-$20,000 per month. Three days later, he signed a form declaring himself indigent and seeking free legal services. The form listed zero assets and his only income as $350 monthly from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program better known as food stamps.
Silva has run afoul of the law multiple times including a stalking conviction in 2022 and drug possession in 2023. In 2016, he was convicted of brandishing a firearm after allegations of restraining the movements of a 17-year-old girl he met online. That arrest notoriously shut down Jefferson Park Avenue in Charlottesville during a nine-hour standoff with police.
On Oct. 8, 2024, Silva was found to have violated the probation terms of his drug possession conviction, but the judge declined to reimpose the suspended portion of his sentence and freed him from custody.
It was during his recent six weeks of freedom that he allegedly sent Rossman the pictures of his penis, pictures she termed "unsolicited and inappropriate to be sending to any person, especially a probation officer."
When Rossman filed the notice of a probation violation, she also visited the local magistrate to swear out three misdemeanor warrants for computer harassment and obtained an emergency protective order.
She told the court she let the emergency order expire after Silva’s jailing. However, the next flurry of messages, including the alleged death threat, took place when Silva was held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
Rossman then obtained a felony threat warrant from Charlottesville General District Court and sought a permanent protective order.
Last week, Silva appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court on another matter, his alleged probation violation. Silva was there seeking a switch from male to female legal representation, his own specific request.
"I’m writing to tell you I want a new lawyer," he wrote to the circuit court in late December. "I only trust girl lawyers."
Silva’s letter went on to denounce all "guy lawyers," including his then-current court-appointed attorney Thomas Wilson. Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins played the matter straight when hearing it on Jan. 8.
"I understand you don’t trust guy lawyers," said Higgins, emphasizing the word "guy" as she spoke to Silva, handcuffed as he sat beside Wilson, a male lawyer, in the main courtroom.
"The court will appoint a female lawyer," continued Higgins, who then named Cyndra Van Clief as Silva’s attorney on the charge of violating the terms of his two-year probation on his 2023 felony drug conviction.
Silva has accused two male attorneys of working against his best interests, and another male attorney bowed out before serving due to a conflict. It’s not clear whether the judge knew of the new extortion and harassment charges lodged by a woman prior to appointing Van Clief.
Silva remains held without bail. His first circuit court hearing with his new, female, lawyer is slated for Jan. 23.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com