After disgraced San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres admitted to molesting a child and sending lewd texts about minors, there are questions about whether he met some of Silicon Valley’s most vulnerable youth through his romantic partner — a court-appointed child advocate.
Torres’ longtime boyfriend, Nicholas Aguilar, has spent more than five years working in Santa Clara County’s foster system as someone with a court order to advocate for the interests of at-risk youth. These court-appointed special advocates (CASAs) work under a national program and are appointed to represent a foster child by a judge.
Aguilar was trained and supervised by the county’s local CASA branch, Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, and has represented at least half a dozen kids — uplifting their needs and taking them to concerts, according to a volunteer recognition post from July. Aguilar has served multiple jobs at the organization since 2019, including a volunteer, intern and specialist.
A leader with the local branch said volunteers and employees are forbidden from having children meet friends and family, and they believe Aguilar has not violated this policy.
Torres posted three years ago about his relationship with Aguilar on social media, chronicling their journey overcoming addiction.
They were photographed together as recently as September 2023 at a fundraiser for the San Jose Museum of Art alongside other city leaders.
Aguilar didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Gustavo Caraveo, vice president of Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, said Aguilar is not under investigation and the group has no reason to believe youth were exposed to Torres through the organization.
“It is our understanding, and we have no reason to believe otherwise, that Nicholas Aguilar adhered to his oath during his service as a CASA volunteer. We have no other comments at this time regarding Nicholas’ tenure as an employee or volunteer with Child Advocates,” Caraveo told San José Spotlight, adding the organization would cooperate if authorities initiated an investigation.
Caraveo said Aguilar and other court-appointed advocates cannot take children to their home or the homes of friends or relatives. Aguilar did, however, take children to “concerts, local events and CASA events,” according to the organization. It is unclear if Torres joined any of those outings. The organization’s profile on Aguilar said he’s worked with at least six minors of varying ages as of July.
“In California, CASA volunteers can take their children on outings but, of course, they can never take the child to their own home nor introduce friends/family to their case children because of confidentiality requirements,” Jeannie Low, a spokesperson for CASA’s statewide branch, told San José Spotlight. “Our CASA volunteers must be compliant not only with National CASA standards, but also with California Rule of Court 5.655 and Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 100-110.”
Lesther Papa, an assistant professor and child psychology expert at San Jose State University, questions whether background checks should apply to others who are near CASA’s advocates. Papa said the Torres case warrants a conversation about whether romantic partners, friends and family who live with an advocate should be vetted as well.
“The job of this person is to be able to keep kids safe. Can they keep the children they’re advocating for separate from any partners or relatives?” Papa told San José Spotlight. “We’re not sure if this person (Aguilar) was aware of what was going on or not.”
Caraveo said CASAs must take part in an “invasive” interview with questions about sexual abuse, undergo background checks and provide multiple non-family references.
“CASAs are supervised by trained staff during their assignment and they review together all activities on a monthly basis to assure the youth is making progress and that the volunteer is in compliance with all National CASA standards,” Caraveo said.
After police filings in October revealed Torres exchanged texts asking for sex with minors in 2022, a relative went to the police to report Torres molested him while the relative was underage in the 1990s. The relative called and confronted Torres about the abuse — with police listening in — which prompted Torres to apologize and reveal he himself was the victim of sexual abuse.
Torres’ attorney, Nelson McElmurry, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“A lot of advocates might be going into this work because they were victims themselves — that is super empowering and great,” Papa said. “But you also want to assess people who have been able to fully address things that happened to them. How do they do that?”
Papa said the minors under Santa Clara County foster care are among the most vulnerable and are at risk of being victimized again.
“It’s already one layer of vulnerability to be a minor. There comes a second layer if you’re a minor who’s been entrusted to someone appointed to protect and advocate for you,” Papa said.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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