Councilman Torres is withdrawing from public view while police investigate possible criminal activity

There was one empty chair at today’s Santa Jose City Council meeting: 3rd District Councilman Omar Torres.

Torres was also not present at a news conference Friday where the federal government awarded $4.5 million for the Spartan Keyes Park project in his district.

The council member has remained silent since the October 3 revelations that he was under criminal investigation – police are not providing any further details.

Torres wasn’t so shy that night after investigators in San Jose served him with an arrest warrant for undisclosed materials and held him for an interview on undisclosed charges.

He released a statement at the time that said: “Today I was wrongfully arrested and questioned by investigators on unfounded allegations. Let me be clear: these claims are completely false.”

Neither Torres nor police provided any information about the allegations. Multiple media outlets have reported that the allegations involve possible sexual misconduct related to online searches.

Torres said Thursday he was cooperating with investigators and had given his passwords to police. “I have nothing to hide,” he said.

“This detention was based on misinformation provided to law enforcement in response to a police report I filed against an individual for extortion and stalking and is a clear act of retaliation by this individual,” he said in the statement he posted on social media published in the media.

Torres said he was a victim and said the allegations were “attempts to discredit me.”

“It is heartbreaking that my family, my partner, my team and I have to respond to such baseless and defamatory allegations,” he said.

He has since hired a prominent criminal defense attorney, Nelson McElmurry. The council member’s office will refer all inquiries to McElmurry.

McElmurry responded to inquiries from San Jose Inside with this email: “Councilman Torres is committed to resolving the matter and maintains his innocence. However, he will not answer questions or conduct interviews until the law enforcement investigation is complete.”

He added: “Based on officers’ statements to Mr. Torres, we are cautiously optimistic that the investigation will be completed sooner rather than later.”

San Jose police said Thursday they could “confirm that a police investigation into a San Jose City Council member is ongoing,” but did not provide further details.

“The investigation is active and ongoing. For this reason, we are unable to provide any further information at this time,” the department said. “As the investigation progresses and new information is discovered, the San Jose Police Department hopes to provide an update at a later date.”

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan also declined to comment, but added that City Hall is focused on serving the city’s voters and responded to a question about whether the investigation could become a distraction.

“I cannot comment further as this is an ongoing investigation and we need to let our investigators do their work,” Mahan said Friday. “I know our police are working very hard to find out the truth. As soon as further information is available, our police, in consultation with the public prosecutor, can pass it on.”