Another top San Jose political leader was contacted about Councilmember Omar Torres — now facing charges of molestation and child sex crimes — more than a year before his downfall.
Screenshots obtained by San José Spotlight shows a tipster — who had been in a sexual relationship with Torres — sent Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei a message on Facebook in April 2023 about the now disgraced official. It’s the same man who contacted another San Jose councilmember two weeks later, as reported by this news organization. Both warnings fell on deaf ears.
Kamei is now the second elected official who was tipped off about Torres, but nothing was done. The city failed to disclose the messages in response to a public records request by this news organization, raising questions as to whether they’re either being hidden or were deleted.
Sources with knowledge of the police investigation have confirmed the city attorney’s office asked police to put emails, texts and other communications into the investigative file to avoid public disclosure.
San José Spotlight confirmed the tipster — who used the screen name “John Wick” — is Terry Beeks, a Chicago man who received lewd texts from Torres about minors and allegedly extorted the councilmember over them. Beeks told this news organization he contacted numerous elected officials in an attempt to warn them about Torres. He chose them based on photos Torres posted of his colleagues.
Two weeks after contacting Kamei’s office, another San Jose politician received a message Beeks sent under his pseudonym. This time, Beeks said he had proof that Torres was touching kids. San José Spotlight did not name the politician or their office to protect the source of the information.
Torres was arrested Tuesday and faces three felony counts of child sexual assault. He resigned from the San Jose City Council, effective Nov. 27. and is in custody.
San Jose police have been trailing Torres for months as the extraordinary case unfolded. It began with the discovery of text messages between Torres and Beeks — messages that showed the 43-year-old politician bragging about performing oral sex on a 17-year-old male on a college campus, describing the genitalia of an autistic 11-year-old boy and asking Beeks if he’s got “homies under 18” for a sexual encounter. The texts were revealed in court documents last month.
But Torres’ arrest came this week after the downtown councilman admitted to sexually assaulting and sodomizing his cousin when the boy was as young as 13. Police released records detailing a call in which Torres admits to the abuse and apologizes to the victim repeatedly. He was unaware the police would hear the call.
In the Facebook message, Kamei appears to give Wick — or Beeks — an office number to call. She did not take any further action.
Kamei told San José Spotlight she hadn’t seen the messages from Beeks until this news organization asked for the records a month ago. She said her staff told Beeks to go to the police — but she could not say who gave that direction or when. She could not produce any evidence showing it happened.
Sources have told San José Spotlight that Kamei was informed about the messages in April 2023 and actually directed staff to delete the communications with Beeks and to not involve her.
“I had not known until I did the search that this message existed,” she said. “Until this year, when your (records request) came, I personally went into the account and looked into what is going on — I realized this is not the way it was communicated to me.”
When San José Spotlight asked the vice mayor’s office for communications during that time frame relating to Torres, the city claimed that no records exist.
According to the city’s record retention policy, communications with constituents are to be kept for two years. The messages obtained by San José Spotlight should have been preserved and disclosed by Kamei and her team.
After city officials learned San José Spotlight has the records they claimed didn’t exist, Kamei said the records are exempt as part of a police investigation.
“I’ve been advised its part of the investigation and that’s why its withheld,” Kamei said.
City Attorney Nora Frimann did not respond to a request for comment on why the city initially said the records didn’t exist.
Kamei reflected on whether she should have taken initiative to contact authorities.
“Sometimes people make decisions and you think, well, hindsight is 20/20. I mean, whenever there is anything unusual, my thought is, of course you go to the police,” Kamei told San José Spotlight.
Mayor Matt Mahan has publicly called for anyone at City Hall with knowledge of the Torres allegations to come forward to the police. Kamei doesn’t know if anyone has done so.
“Nobody has told me anything, maybe there are others who have, but certainly I’m not aware of anyone,” she said. “At least nobody has come to me.”
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter. Contact Ramona Giwargis at [email protected] or follow @RamonaGiwargis on X.
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