Residents of San Jose’s 3rd District are joining forces to launch a recall campaign against embattled Councilman Omar Torres as he is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct.
Torres has missed several council meetings since he was arrested and questioned by police about text messages in which he sexually fantasized about a minor.
“This is not okay, the behavior is not okay,” said Melissa Reyes, one of District 3’s concerned residents and business owners.
Reyes was once a supporter of Torres, but now she was one of the first people to sign a letter of intent to recall him.
“When it all came out and I had time to digest it, my stomach turned,” Reyes said.
The police investigation began when Torres reported he was a victim of extortion, but authorities then turned their attention to him when they discovered sexually explicit text messages he allegedly sent that referenced minors.
Torres posted a statement on his social media accounts saying, “Let me be absolutely clear: these allegations are completely false.”
His lawyer says the messages were “outrageous fantasy and role-playing.”
The city council spoke earlier this week voted unanimously to strip Torres of his official appointments.
Sean O’Dell, who lives in the Torres neighborhood, was disappointed when he heard about the allegations.
“Such allegations are serious. It is important that they are thoroughly investigated, but it is disgusting to hear that,” O’Dell said. “It makes me uncomfortable.”
Torres has not attended a City Council meeting in weeks and has requested a 30-day medical leave of absence.
Councilors have declined to consider this request at their next meeting.
“Decisions are made at City Hall, while our neighborhoods have no voice.” said Matthew Quevedo, a District 3 resident and organizer of the recall.
Quevedo also served as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Matt Mahan, but took Friday off to focus on the recall effort.
He said the city council cannot remove Torres, so the community must step in and recall him if he does not resign.
“It was the voters who brought him to power. It will be the voters who will remove him from office,” Quevedo said.
Under the current charter, the city has limited options to remove Torres. The criteria include insanity, a recall, missing five consecutive meetings or a misdemeanor conviction.
District 7 Councilman Bien Doan said he is exploring ways to update the city charter and create a mandatory administrative leave policy if a council member faces a criminal investigation into a crime.
“We will explore as many avenues as we can,” Doan said. “We will make sure that even after that we will change the policy.”
The recall group needs 250 signatures from District 3 voters to send Torres the letter of intent to begin the recall process.
After that, 12% of the county’s registered voters, or about 5,300 people, will have to sign up to get the recall on the ballot.
Reyes said she is confident he will be removed from office one way or another.
“If he doesn’t want to resign, we’ll do a recall and get the 5,000. It’s no problem to get the 5,000 signatures,” Reyes said. “We’re moving forward.”
Organizers believe they can collect all signatures by early December, after which they hope to hold a recall election in early 2025.
CBS Bay Area has reached out to Torres’ office for comment. They referred us to his lawyer and have not heard anything since Friday afternoon.
