SAN JOSE — Omar Torres, the former city councilman who resigned in disgrace after he was charged with sexually abusing an underage relative in the 1990s, is working toward a plea agreement in the case, according to his attorney.

Omar Torres is shown in a police booking photo following his Nov. 5, 2024 arrest in San Jose. The former city councilmember, who submitted his resignation letter hours before he was taken into custody, has been charged with sexually abusing an underage relative in the 1990s. His accuser came forward after the surfacing of an unrelated police investigation into Torres alleging he sent text messages demonstrating sexual interest in minors. (San Jose Police Dept.) 

A plea hearing for Torres on Friday was postponed to Feb. 14, and afterward his attorney Nelson McElmurry said his intention is to reach a negotiated plea with prosecutors and avoid trial.

“We are set to begin negotiations,” McElmurry said. “Omar has demonstrated from the beginning that he wants to take responsibility and bring peace to the lives of those that he has affected. That’s why we’re moving in this direction.”

In a statement, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said, “We are always open to discussing a reasonable settlement.”

Torres is currently being held without bail in the county Main Jail, where he has been held since his Nov. 5 arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of child sexual assault and one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14.

Hours before his arrest, Torres submitted his resignation to the city. His council seat has since been filled on an interim basis by businessman Carl Salas, pending an April special election to choose a permanent successor.

The criminal charges against Torres involve alleged acts from Nov. 25, 1999, about a month after Torres turned 18 years old. An accompanying San Jose Police Department report outlines allegations that Torres abused the reported victim for several years prior to that, starting when the victim was 4 years old but when Torres was also a minor.

The reported victim contacted police on Nov. 4 last year in the wake of a scandal tied to a separate department investigation looking into other allegations of Torres’ sexual interest in minors. That probe, which has not yielded charges, surfaced publicly Oct. 3 when Torres was detained and questioned by San Jose detectives.

A search warrant affidavit from the earlier investigation states that Torres asked police to investigate a Chicago man allegedly extorting him to keep a sexual tryst secret from his partner and colleagues. But the investigation revealed sexually explicit text exchanges from 2022 with the man in which they share sexual fantasies that included Torres describing the genitalia of an autistic 11-year-old boy with whom he has a family-type relationship.

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One of the most salacious messages was in the midst of discussing a multi-partner sexual encounter, with Torres asking the man if “U got any homies under 18.” Torres claimed at the time that the messages were part of a fantasy role-play that was then exploited by the Chicago man.

According to detectives, after the child abuse allegations were reported in November, the victim conducted a police-monitored phone call in which Torres admitted to abusing the victim and at least one other underage relative.

“I’m so sorry that I hurt you,” Torres is quoted telling his accuser, before disclosing that he was undergoing “intense therapy.”

Torres also reportedly said on the phone call that he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child and suggested that the alleged assaults were a consequence of his own trauma. McElmurry previously said Torres knew when he accepted the phone call with the reported victim that it might be monitored, and that his reported confession should be seen as a sign of remorse.