There continues to be fallout from the San Jose police investigation into Councilmember Omar Torres over alleged sexual misconduct with a minor.
Torres, in a statement, said immediately and emphatically that he is innocent and that the lurid texts laid out in the search warrant affidavit were private conversations between individuals of age and totally fictitious.
No criminal charges have been filed, but many observers say the affidavit is opening up many new areas of scrutiny, including Torres' actual residence and whether he actually lives in the downtown district he represents as well as who at city hall knew about the activities.
The affidavit shows Torres acknowledges paying an alleged extortionist about $22,000 to prevent nude pictures and videos from being revealed and texts about a young boy.
"It’s very disturbing and so lurid when you read these texts, particularly the injection of the 11-year-old boy reference," legal analyst Steven Clark said. "That’s something that law enforcement is carefully going to look at to see whether there’s anything on these devices to suggest that he is interested in underage individuals."
The San Jose police union has called for Torres to resign. It also released an open letter criticizing city hall for reportedly launching a probe into how the investigation information got leaked instead of into Torres, calling it "...unprofessional and dangerous antics...," "...sounds like a cover up...," and claim the city wanted to pull detectives off the Torres case to find the leaks.
"You should be condemning this behavior," San Jose Police Officers' Association President Steve Slack said. "You should also be asking for Omar’s immediate resignation. The silence at city hall is deafening on this, and to me that’s damning."
The city manager’s office responded to the police union, calling the letter unfortunate and inaccurate, and said it will respond in more detail next week, saying the priority continues to be the integrity and continuity of the criminal investigation.
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