San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres had already been under fire for text messages seemingly soliciting a minor before he was arrested on sexual abuse charges. This morning, he pleaded no contest and was convicted.
Today is Election Day in San Jose, or rather, the day of a special election in San Jose’s District 3, where there has been no sitting city councilmember since the November 5, 2024 election day. And the reason there has been no sitting District 3 city councilmember is, well, this makes for a pretty disturbing read.
Previous San Jose District 3 City Councilmember Omar Torres was arrested on November 5 and immediately resigned, with San Jose Spotlight reporting that Torres was suspected in some sort of “crimes related to lewd acts with a child.” The next day, it was revealed that Torres was accused of sexually abusing and sodomizing his cousin at some point in the late 1990s. And at that point, Torres had already been accused of sending explicit text messages soliciting a minor, though Torres claimed these texts were role-play over which he was being extorted.
Torres is no longer attempting to make any such excuses. The Chronicle reports that Torres pleaded no contest to sodomy and oral copulation by force, as well as charges of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor under the age of 14. His no contest plea means he was automatically convicted.
“It is heartbreaking that someone elected to represent and serve thousands of San Jose residents had previously molested a small child,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement to the Chronicle. “Children are vulnerable and precious, and my office will do everything in our legal power to fight for their safety and fully prosecute those who hurt them.”
The sexual abuse of Torres’s cousin reportedly happened when the victim was four years old and Torres was in his teens. Prosecutors say the abuse went on for nine years. Torres has been charged for acts committed after he turned 18 years old in 1999.
Torres remains in custody, and his next court appearance is scheduled for April 28.
Related: SF Anti-Crime Crusader and Twitter Troll Ricci Wynne Now Indicted for Child Porn
Image: Councilmember Omar Torres via Facebook
