Ex-San Jose councilman pleads no contest in sex abuse case
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A San Jose councilman who resigned because of sex abuse charges pleaded no contest on Tuesday to abusing a child in the 1990s, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said.
Omar Torres entered three no-contest pleas on the same day a special election was being held to choose a replacement for a vacant seat on the council.
"Omar Torres has pleaded no contest on Election Day, which I hope gives the victim and all District 3 residents some measure of closure," San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. "We likely won’t know who our next D3 Councilmember is for a few more months, but we do know that the future of our Downtown, the heart of our city, will be in better, safer hands."
Torres was told to come back to court on May 29 to schedule a sentencing date.
The maximum punishment he could face is 24 years in prison.
A no contest plea is essentially a guilty plea.
The Mercury News first reported the news.
Torres has been in custody at the county Main Jail since his Nov. 5, 2024, arrest.
The DA charged Torres with two felony counts of child sexual assault and one felony count of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14 dating back to November 1999.
Torres, who was a teenager at the time, molested the victim many times starting when the child was 4 years old, according to the evidence.