SAN JOSE >> The investigation that led to the arrest Tuesday of former City Councilmember Omar Torres — who had resigned his position hours earlier — involves a family member who accused him of serial molestation in the 1990s, according to court records and authorities.

Detectives stated in an explosive police report that Torres admitted to the crimes earlier this week in a phone call with the reported victim that was monitored by police.

Torres was arrested Tuesday afternoon. He briefly appeared Wednesday in a San Jose courtroom, where he was arraigned on three felony counts of child molestation involving sodomy and oral copulation by force and lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14.

Attorney Nelson McElmurry appeared in court with Torres and did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Torres stood in a courtroom hallway, partially obscured by a doorway and a bailiff, and did not appear to make any remarks during the arraignment. Judge Hector Ramon remanded him to the Santa Clara County Main Jail pending a Nov. 14 court date to hear arguments on whether he should be granted bail or a conditional release.

At a news conference Wednesday at San Jose Police Department headquarters, Mayor Matt Mahan said the allegations against Torres “are every parent’s worst nightmare” and that city leaders are “absolutely horrified.”

“I want to assure the public that (while) Councilmember Torres will (receive) due process, justice will be served in this case.”

The date of the charged crimes is Nov. 25, 1999, about a month after Torres turned 18 years old. According to a criminal complaint and accompanying San Jose Police Department report filed by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, ongoing sexual abuse was alleged prior to that point.

The reported victim contacted police Monday in the wake of the scandal tied to a separate department investigation looking into other allegations of Torres’ sexual interest in minors that surfaced publicly Oct. 3 when he was detained and questioned by San Jose detectives at City Hall.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jay Boyarsky attended the arraignment, and said that given Torres’ charged crimes — which carry a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison if he’s convicted on all counts — and the nature of the ongoing investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct, the DA’s office is seeking to keep the defendant in jail for the duration of the criminal case.

“In a case of this nature, where there is evidence that has already mentioned … an ongoing and recent interest in minors and committing sexual assault, it seems to me that is a person who poses a current and ongoing threat to the community,” Boyarsky said.

No arrest was made after the October interrogation, which also involved police confiscating Torres’ electronic devices and searching his home and vehicle, but it apparently prompted the reported victim behind Tuesday’s arrest to come forward.

“To the San Jose community, please know that this department will always support survivors of sexual violence and abuse, and know that it’s never too late to come forward,” Police Chief Paul Joseph said Wednesday.

According to the police report, Torres admitted to molesting the reported victim and at least one other family member, with some of the abuse occurring in Texas as well as in San Jose.

Torres’ accuser told police that the abuse against him started when he was 4 years old. The report includes claims that the sexual acts occurred in family homes and at family functions, out of sight from other relatives.

At the arraignment, Ramon issued a no-contact order for Torres to stay away from his accuser, who was referred to in court as John Doe.

Torres had disappeared from the public eye as he faced mounting pressure to resign from prominent politicians, business groups and labor organizations. He conceded to that pressure in a resignation letter submitted to the city hours before his arrest Tuesday. The resignation is effective Nov. 27.

“The choice comes with a heavy heart, but I believe it is in the best interest of my constituents and my community,” Torres wrote. “Serving the people of San Jose has been one of the greatest honors of my life. … I remain committed to the values we’ve championed together and am confident that our city will continue to thrive.”

Filling his seat

The City Council must decide whether to fill the District 3 seat through a special election or through the appointment process.

A search warrant affidavit from the October interrogation outlined how Torres’ request for a police investigation, into a man allegedly extorting him to keep a sexual tryst secret from his partner and colleagues, eventually pointed back at Torres and his own allegedly illicit acts.

Those acts allegedly included sexually explicit text exchanges from 2022 with the man, who is from Chicago, in which they share sexual fantasies that included Torres describing the genitalia of an autistic 11-year-old boy who has a family-type relationship with him. He also claimed in the texts that he performed oral sex on a 17-year-old boy while working at an unspecified college.

Perhaps the most incriminating message in the running exchange was in the midst of the two planning a multipartner sexual encounter, with Torres asking the Chicago man if “U got any homies under 18.”

Demands for money

The man, Torres reported, had threatened to release nude photos and videos from their sexual messages. The affidavit states that Torres said he initially complied with the man’s demands for money, paying more than $22,000 over time before getting police involved.

Torres’ defense against the salacious text messages has been to claim that the Chicago man goaded him into discussing “damaging” topics “under the guise of eroticism,” so that he could later extort him.

Torres also would claim that the texts “do not reflect any real-world actions or intentions and were entirely fictitious.”

Staff writers Nollyanne Delacruz and Devan Patel contributed to this report.