After facing child sex abuse allegations last November, former District 3 Councilmember Omar Torres was officially convicted last Tuesday of sexually assaulting a child in 1999.
The conviction follows Torres’s no-contest plea to three charges of child sexual abuse, according to an April 9 article from KQED.
The three felonies included sodomy, oral copulation and lewd and lascivious acts, according to a case summary from the district attorney’s office.
Jeff Rosen, a District Attorney for Santa Clara County, made a statement in a press release on April 8 regarding the former councilmember’s conviction.
“It is heartbreaking that someone elected to represent and serve thousands of San José residents had previously molested a small child,” Rosen said. “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 victim of Torres’s sexual abuse was a relative, according to the same April 9 article from KQED. The abuse had occurred for years, starting when Torres was a minor and leading into his adulthood, according to the same source.
In the same Santa Clara County press release, it was stated that the victim made contact with the police last year when an investigation was launched by the San José Police Department because of the allegations.
Steven Clark, a legal analyst and former Santa Clara County district attorney, said that Torres’s no-contest plea was a way for Torres to ease his guilt.
“I think what he’s trying to do here is show contrition (and) seek mercy from the court because it was not a trial case,” Clark said. “I think he also wanted to end this (and) get out of the public spotlight.”
Pleading no contest in a criminal proceeding implies that the defendant agrees to take a conviction for the crime without admitting to being guilty, according to a webpage from Eisner Gorin LLP, a criminal defense law firm.
In addition to the child molestation investigation, Torres was also being investigated for allegations of sending lewd texts about minors and asking minors for sex, according to a March 3 article from San José Spotlight.
“What makes it problematic is some of his more recent statements that he made online when he was conversing with the person in Chicago, where he still expressed interest in minors, “ Clark said. “That’s very concerning for a court, even though these other charges (sexual assault against a relative) are older.”
Torres’s lawyer, Nelson McElmurry, obtained messages affirming that the former councilmember engaged in sexually driven chats on social media, according to an Oct. 15, 2024, article from San José Inside.
Torres is facing up to 24 years in prison and will be a lifetime registered sex offender, according to an April 8 article from KRON 4.
Amidst the allegations, he resigned from his seat last November before being arrested shortly after, according to a Nov. 5, 2024 article from ABC News.
The allegations, charges and arrest of Torres then kickstarted a District 3 special election in which voting counts started as of April 8.
Because the investigations factored into the election, Clark said that there could be an underlying notoriety not only in the district but also in the city of San José.
“I think this is a black eye for the city of San José that they wanted to get past as soon as possible,” Clark said. “A lot of people stuck with him even though he had this past and I think they are very disappointed in him, so it’s going to take a while for this district to get past that.”
While District 3 resident and San José State student Khangerel Ganzorig feels that Torres is guilty and should do time, he hopes that he could get some professional help.
A police report noted that Torres was sexually assaulted as a minor and he blamed that experience as the reason he started molesting minors, according to a Nov. 6, 2024, article from ABC News.
“I think he is definitely guilty (and) definitely needs to hear his sentence, but at the same time, he did talk about how he was a victim in the past,” Ganzorig said. “So while he does deserve jail time, he also needs to get the help he needs right now.”
Although Torres was involved in local government with many supporters, Clark feels that his high-profile presence in the community, in addition to the allegations, contributed to his downfall.
Torres became a city councilmember in January of 2023 when he beat Irene Smith, Santa Clara County judge pro tem, in the general election in 2022, according to a webpage from Ballotpedia.
“I think the district attorney wanted to send the message that even if you’re a public figure, you’re not above the law,” Clark said. “Sometimes it’s not helpful to be well known when you get charged with a crime because so many things are focused on you.”
