San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres Resigns, Arrested, Jailed

San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres was arrested today on child molestation charges, hours after submitting his resignation to city officials. He is being held without bail tonight, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Correction.

“Omar Torres has been arrested on suspicion of committing some of the most serious crimes imaginable,” said Mayor Matt Mahan in a statement this evening. “I’m horrified by the possibility that — far from his claim of outrageous fantasies — he may have in fact harmed children.”

The San Jose Police Department confirmed that “Omar Torres was taken into custody today as part of an ongoing investigation of crimes related to lewd acts with a child.”

Police released no further details, but said they will provide additional information at a press conference on Wednesday.

“I trust our police department and district attorney to ensure that justice is served through the due process afforded by our laws,” said the mayor. “ If you have any information related to this case or other cases involving harm to children, I would ask you to reach out to the San Jose Police Department.”

The arrest and resignation ended a month of controversy that rocked City Hall, but it remained unclear this evening whether the arrest was based on new revelations of sexual misconduct or on the sexually explicit emails and videos revealed in an Oct. 1 police affidavit.

Torres was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail today on suspicion of at least one count of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14, and is being held without bail.

The now-former first-term council member for District 3 in downtown San Jose has not attended any city meetings, and declined all comments since declaring his innocence when police served search warrants on the 43-year-old on Oct. 1 for his car, electronic devices and his residences.

Torres’ attorney, Nelson McElmurry did not immediately respond to requests for more information about the arrest or charges or resignation.

In September, Torres had invited police to investigate what he claimed was an extortion plot by a Chicago man.

The arrest and resignation followed multiple calls for his resignation after he admitted participating in the online exchanges, which his lawyer defended as “role play” and “fantasy.”

District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan said in statement that he was “pleased he has finally stepped down in the best interest of the people of District 3.”

“It is now crucial that District 3 has new leadership as quickly as possible,” Doan said. “The people of the district deserve to be fully represented, and we must move swiftly to ensure that their voice is heard in the council without further delay.”

Doan was the first council member to call for Torres to resign, followed nearly a week later by the mayor and the full council.

“This is a pivotal moment for our city,” he said in a statement today. “We must work together to restore trust in our city council and ensure that the actions of one individual do not overshadow the collective responsibility we have to our communities. The people of our city deserve leaders who are committed to transparency, integrity, and service.”

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.

5 Comments

  1. SJ Kulak

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    whooosh

    … into the memory hole this unfortunate chapter goes

  2. Don Gagliardi

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    Good riddance to Omar Torres. Aside from the criminal charges, he acted utterly dishonorably during the last month after he was initially detained, by defaming San Jose police on his official letterhead for his supposedly being “wrongful detained” and by holding his seat hostage to collect a month of paycheck(s) from U.S. taxpayers.

    We should not lose sight, however, that the mayor, city manager and city attorney also acted dishonorably after this saga surfaced in service of non-transparency.

    The city manager and city attorney on October 11 denied allegation of a coverup and interference in the investigation of Torres made in a letter by an attorney for SJPOA. The city manager and city attorney reportedly promised in a joint statement that they would release publicly an official response the following week. Nearly a month later, we are still waiting for that official position on the POA’s serious allegations against our governing municipal officials.

    The mayor lied on X on October 17, and earlier in person at city hall to D3 neighborhood leaders (I was there), stating categorically that the city charter doesn’t allow the city council to remove Torres. Except section 405 plainly and expressly allows it. The city attorney’s subsequent opinion released publicly the next week admits as much. The city attorney opinion makes arguments that section 405 might not apply under the circumstances, but cites no supporting case law, preventing evaluation on the opinion’s merits. Regardless, it is very different to say the law does not apply than to say there is no law on the subject matter. The mayor lied, demonstrably and repeatedly, on the subject of his hands being supposedly tied.

    The lies have been part of a coverup of who knew what and when about Torres on the 18th floor at city hall. Removing Torres, instead of fecklessly asking him to resign, would have required a public hearing which would have permitted Torres to air all the dirty laundry he has on everyone else.

  3. Don Gagliardi

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    Spotlight is reporting Omar’s resignation is not effective until 11/27, three weeks from now, an effective self-provided severance. Why are taxpayers still paying his salary? He should be removed ASAP.

    The mayor’s lies about section 405 are costing us money. Torres would be gone already had Mahan and his colleagues invoked 405. The mayor should resign in disgrace.

  4. SJ Kulak

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    He should, but he won’t and by the end of the year, no one will remember.

    Welcome to our world, Mr. Gagliardi.

  5. Don Gagliardi

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    Received a response this evening, November 6, to my public records request asking for legal citations of cases alluded to in the city attorney’s 10/22 memo re city charter section 405, which they admit provides for removal of councilmembers by their colleagues, but contend is limited by case law. Cases are discussed but not cited in the memo.

    All I received was a link to the memo lacking case citations. There are inferentially no citations of case law anywhere at city hall allowing interpretation of charter section 405 to mean anything other than what it says — Mahan and his colleagues have the power to remove Omar Torres.

    Absolute Kafkaesque opaqueness in furtherance of keeping an alleged pedophile in office as my representative for several more weeks earning income from my tax dollars. They appear to be covering up a wider scandal in not removing him several weeks ago.

    Who knew what and when?

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