SAN JOSE >> After a newly unsealed search warrant affidavit for San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres detailed allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors, Torres claimed Thursday that his explicit messages with another man — whom he accuses of extortion — were part of “outrageous fantasy and role play.”

On the afternoon of Oct. 3, San Jose police detectives detained Torres, then questioned him at length at City Hall. Torres was never placed in custody or taken to police headquarters, and he has not been criminally charged.

The police department has still not officially acknowledged the nature of the investigation. But the affidavit filed by police this week implicates Torres in at least one felony count of oral copulation of a minor and at least one misdemeanor of showing abnormal interest in a child.

While Torres, 42, was being questioned by detectives, police searched his residences and his car. A warrant was also obtained to install a tracking device on his car prior to the police stop.

In a statement Thursday, Torres’ attorney, Nelson McElmurry, sought to frame the text messages attributed to him in the affidavit — in which he appears to boast about having oral sex with a 17-year-old and crudely describes the genitalia of an 11-year-old — were not meant to be interpreted literally.

McElmurry said the texts “do not reflect any real-world actions or intentions and were entirely fictitious.”

The warrant affidavit authored by Detective Mark Minten states that Torres went to San Jose police at the end of August to report that he was being extorted by a man in Chicago; Torres said he had an ongoing online sexual relationship with that person going back two years.

The man, Torres told police, had threatened to release nude photos and videos from their sexual messages. Police found that the man had harassed Torres’ partner and other people, including his staff. Torres initially complied with the man’s demands for money, paying more than $22,000 over time.

On Sept. 20, San Jose police got the assistance of Chicago police to serve a search warrant on the man, who was described as being 21 years old.Unbeknownst to Torres, the trajectory of the resulting investigation had changed and begun to point back at him. The man made his own claims about Torres, saying that their relationship started between three and four years ago, which by the longest estimate would have made him 17 at the time.

That includes an in-person encounter at the man’s Chicago home in August when Torres traveled to the Democratic National Convention.

The sexually explicit messages highlighted by the affidavit also include an exchange in which Torres reportedly described the genitalia of someone he said was an autistic 11-year-old boy.

In a February 2022 text, Torres is reported in the affidavit to have told the Chicago man that while working at an unspecified college, he performed oral sex on a 17-year-old boy.

An April 2022 text detailed in the affidavit shows Torres asking the man, in a conversation about planning a multi-partner sexual encounter, if “U got any homies under 18.”

After his interrogation ended the night of Oct. 3, Torres asserted his innocence. In his Thursday statement, McElmurry accused the Chicago man of goading him into discussing “damaging” topics “under the guise of eroticism.”

The man, the attorney said, “continued pushing the boundaries until my client felt compelled to reciprocate the talk as part of the role-play scenario. Once the conversations crossed the line, the extortion began.”

McElmurry contends that Torres “was in very difficult position with few options” and went to police “despite the potential damage to his reputation.”

Legal analyst Steven Clark, a criminal defense attorney and former county prosecutor, said the evidence detailed in the search warrant did not appear strong enough to support criminal charges against Torres. He noted that the age of consent in Illinois is 17 and that Torres’ reported texts indicating sexual interest in minors are mostly grounds to examine his electronic devices “to see if there is any corroboration to his alleged statements.”

“Online sexual banter, even if sordid, is not illegal,” Clark said. “The witness who was (allegedly) extorting him has criminal exposure and may not testify due to Fifth Amendment concerns. The key is the forensic electronics investigation.”

Torres pledged after the search to be resolute in carrying out his duties as the District 3 councilmember, representing downtown and its surroundings, though he has kept a low public profile in the days following his police encounter. His colleagues on the council and political allies have given responses ranging from voicing disbelief in the allegations to declining to comment.

But there are signs of fallout from the allegations. Political ally Domingo Candelas has joined Arjun Batra in scrubbing Torres’ endorsement off his campaign site as both continue to decline comment on the allegations. District 2 candidate Pamela Campos also removed Torres’ endorsement Thursday.

Torres has been absent from official city proceedings and community events since his detainment; at a Wednesday night community meeting, his chief of staff, Kiara Arreola, told the Alma Neighborhood Association that Torres was still “working” to represent District 3.

Mayor Matt Mahan said Thursday that he was “shocked and sickened” by the details of the affidavit.

“The allegations are serious, and if they are true, he needs to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “It’s still an active investigation, and I trust the criminal justice system to find the whole truth.”

The San Jose Police Officers’ Association was less patient and called for Torres to step down from the council.

“He must resign, and this investigation must also focus on Torres’ colleagues and on city management and seek the answers to these questions: ‘Who knew, and when did they know it?’,” the union said in a statement.

McElmurry’s statement indicated that Torres plans to defend himself and restore his reputation.

“At this time, my client’s desire is to clear his name and get back to serving the citizens of his district,” he said.

Staff writer Devan Patel contributed to this report.