Omar Torres
Introduction
Omar Torres, born 14 October 1981, is a former San José City Council member who represented the city’s District 3 — downtown and the northside neighborhoods — from 2023 until his resignation in November 2024, after earlier serving as an elected trustee of the San José–Evergreen Community College District. On 29 August 2025 he was sentenced to 18 years in state prison after pleading no contest to sexually assaulting a teenage relative, abuse that began decades earlier when Torres and his victim were both minors and continued after Torres turned 18 in 1999. He must register as a sex offender for life.
Background Information
Torres was charged in November 2024 with one count of lewd and lascivious acts against a minor and one count each of sodomy and oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace or fear. He resigned from the city council and was arrested on 5 November 2024 — election day — hours after stepping down, and remained in custody thereafter. The case reached back to the 1990s: prosecutors said the abuse of his younger relative spanned years, starting when the victim was around four years old and continuing into 1999.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
While he originally pleaded not guilty, Torres changed his plea to no contest and was convicted on all three counts on 8 April 2025. Prosecutors said Torres “terrorized” and molested the victim numerous times between roughly 1990 and 1999, beginning when the victim was four years old.
At the sentencing hearing before Superior Court Judge Cynthia Sevely, Torres faced a maximum possible term of 24 years; his defense asked for five years, describing him as a first-time offender who had himself been sexually abused and had overcome substance abuse issues to win elected office. Ahead of the hearing, Torres paid $6,400 for a psychological evaluation arguing his conduct was fueled by trauma rather than pedophilia. Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky, who prosecuted the case, said the evaluation lacked credibility and any transcripts, and pointed to a separate police investigation into text messages Torres sent soliciting sex with minors in 2022 as casting doubt on his remorse.
Torres spoke in court, saying through tears: “I am ashamed of my actions and ask my cousin and his wife for forgiveness. I violated their trust and crushed their hearts.” The victim and the victim’s wife also addressed the court. Judge Sevely imposed 18 years in state prison — three years short of the maximum — and ordered Torres to register as a sex offender for life.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement: “Today’s sentence holds Omar Torres accountable for perpetrating horrendous crimes against a child.” He added: “This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law, and it is never too late for justice. We admire the victim’s courage to come forward to report the abuse he suffered.”
Public Reaction and Consequences
The case rocked San José’s political scene through 2024 and 2025: a sitting downtown council member’s resignation and election-day arrest, a special election to replace him that seated Anthony Tordillos as the district’s new representative, and finally a sentencing hearing at which the victim’s family faced him in court. Torres’s political career, which had carried him from the community college board to the city council dais, ended entirely with his conviction.
Current Status
Torres began his sentence at Wasco State Prison on 17 September 2025 and is not eligible for parole until January 2037; he has since been held at California State Prison, Los Angeles County. The 18-year term, the lifetime sex-offender registration, and the forcible-sex-crime convictions leave no path back to public life.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A rising Democratic politician who held elected office at two levels of local government is now a registered sex offender serving 18 years for childhood sexual abuse. The district he represented was forced into a special election within months of his arrest, and the separate 2022 investigation into his messages soliciting sex with minors — raised by the prosecutor at sentencing — marked the case as one of the most consequential political falls in recent Santa Clara County history.