Newly released court documents reveal troubling details linked to accusations of sexual misconduct against San Jose City Councilman Omar Torres.
A sworn statement, an affidavit, by the lead investigator in the case was filed with the court and the public information shows a complex tale of alleged sex, possible child pornography and blackmail.
The 26-page search warrant affidavit is a detailed rundown of the case against Torres that could lead to criminal charges.
According to the affidavit, with much of the information supplied by Torres himself to police in August to report he was a victim of extortion from someone in Chicago who he had both an online and physical relationship.
Police investigated the extortion claim, which Thursday's released affidavit confirms, but a search of the Chicago man's phone revealed that in February 2022, Torres sent the man a photo of his 11-year-old son. The conversation begins innocently but then turns to the subject of the boy’s genitals.
The Chicago man told police he did have a relationship with Torres and it started when that person was a minor, according to the court document.
The focus then began turning toward Torres and on Oct. 3 police detained him and seized his cell phone and other electronics.
Details of the relationship -- many revealed in text messages between the two -- are extremely graphic and included the exchange of nude images.
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According to texts shown in the affidavit, Torres talked about having performed oral sex with a 17 year old and requesting all sorts of sex acts including with minors.
The text exchanges between the two continued through April 8, 2022, with a discussion of Torres’s planned visit to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention and a planned encounter with the man.
Fast-forward to August of this year, when Torres reported the alleged extortion, claiming the Chicago man threatened to leak nude photos and videos of the councilman if he didn’t get paid. According to the affidavit, Torres told police he had paid the man $22,000 up to that point.
Legal analyst Steven Clark said investigators are not done yet.
"Many people engage in sordid behavior online, but that doesn't make it criminal," Clark said. "It makes it disturbing and it makes it questionable in the court of public opinion. But until this forensic work is done, I think it's too soon to tell whether criminal charges will be filed."
Regardless, the San Jose Police Officers Association wants Torres to resign immediately.
"Acts that have been described in the affidavit are sickening, disturbing," SJPOA President Steve Slack said. "Everybody has their day in court. I want to be very clear about that, but it's a separate issues on 'Can you effectively govern? Can you lead as an elected official with these kinds of allegations hanging over your head?' And I don't believe he's going to be able to do that."
Torres's attorney in a statement to NBC Bay Area on Thursday said Torres maintains his innocence and the content in the affidavit were private conversations between adults of age, of fantasy and role play -- entirely fictitious.
In a statement released earlier this month, after he was detained by police, Torres said: "Let me be absolutely clear – these accusations are entirely false. 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 from this person."
NBC Bay Area is also reaching out to the Chicago man named in the affidavit.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan released the following statement on Thursday:
"I’m shocked and sickened by what I read in the affidavit today. These allegations are extremely serious and, if proven true, the Councilmember needs to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. This is still an active investigation and I trust our criminal justice system to determine the full truth."
Meanwhile, there will be more information and possible clarifications as police decline to comment, but emphasize the investigation is ongoing.
