A group of San Jose politicians allegedly participated in an inflammatory text thread with a disgraced colleague that included racial slurs and derogatory remarks, according to law enforcement sources.
Sources say the participants in the text thread, which included councilmembers and community leaders, made the remarks while discussing city meetings and public business. Mayor Matt Mahan, Councilmember Bien Doan and the local NAACP are calling for the texts to be released and demanding transparency.
The text thread was discovered when authorities seized ex-Councilmember Omar Torres‘ phone during an investigation related to child sex crimes. The conversation included Torres and his once-allies, Councilmembers Domingo Candelas and Peter Ortiz. The group thread also allegedly included Candelas’ chief of staff Teddy Adera, Working Partnerships USA Transportation Policy Director Huascar Castro and Brenda Zendejas, community relations manager for the San Jose Downtown Association and Ortiz’s partner.
Additionally, sources said two other councilmembers engaged in a scheme to conceal their emails about Torres — hiding whether they knew about his potential criminal behavior before his arrest.
The law enforcement sources spoke to San José Spotlight on condition of anonymity. Their identities and involvement in the case have been confirmed by this news organization.
The group text thread was named “Tammany Hall,” after a powerful political machine that dominated New York state politics in the 1800s, according to the sources. The messages allegedly included the n-word and referred to Mexicans as “scraps,” the latter of which is a slang term used to refer to Southern California gang members. The participants of the text thread allegedly made demeaning comments about certain neighborhoods and schools in low-income areas.
Sources called the messages a “double standard,” and said if law enforcement officials used such language, they’d be terminated.
“Omar Torres disparaged San Jose neighborhoods and his high school. Things they wouldn’t say to the neighborhoods. Things that we’d get fired for,” one source told San José Spotlight.
The disgraced councilman pleaded no contest to three counts of felony child molestation last month and faces a maximum 24 years behind bars. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.
This news organization has made four separate attempts to obtain the text messages from City Hall and the San Jose Police Department. Officials either said the city has no responsive records or that they’d be considered records of investigation exempt from public disclosure. The city manager’s office has been in possession of the text messages for months, sources said.
‘Serious allegations’
Mahan said the sources’ claims about the group texts are alarming.
“These are serious allegations and, to the extent that this language was used in the course of city business or to describe constituents, the people of San Jose have a right to know what their elected representatives are saying,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “I’m especially concerned by the claim that some in City Hall subsequently tried to shield these messages from public view by claiming they are essential to an ongoing investigation. If the texts fall under the city’s usual standards for public disclosure, they should be made public to maintain trust with our community.”
City Attorney Nora Frimann maintained the city can’t disclose records subject to an ongoing investigation.
“It is our understanding that you are asking about information that is the subject of an ongoing police investigation and a judicially issued warrant. Any warrant for electronic communications limits use of information seized to the purpose of the warrant,” Frimann told San José Spotlight.
Ortiz denied using racial slurs or making denigrating remarks about Mexican nationals or the East San Jose community he represents.
“We had group threads, but there was never anything talking bad about African Americans,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “I for sure didn’t. I don’t know anybody else who did.”
Sources have said people on the thread used the word “n-gga.” When asked if anyone on the text thread used the n-word in any of its variations, Ortiz said no one used the word with a hard r.
“I don’t think anybody was like, ‘What’s up, n-word?’ or something like that,” Ortiz said.
None of the other alleged members of the group thread responded to requests for comment.
NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley President Sean Allen said he’s aware of the texts and is calling for a constructive public dialogue about them.
“We, at the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, are deeply troubled by this conduct and demand accountability from those in positions of power,” Allen told San José Spotlight. “It is essential that there be a public acknowledgment of the harm caused, and we call for a formal apology to be issued to the affected communities.”
Councilmember Bien Doan joined those calls.
“San Jose has committed to operate in an open and transparent manner. Existing policies should be followed to ensure that all records of communication relating to city business are made available to the public if they are requested. If these records do exist, they should be subjected to PRA and FOIA laws,” he told San José Spotlight.
Shielding public emails
In addition to discovering the texts as part of the investigation into Torres, law enforcement sources said city officials sent investigators their unsolicited emails about Torres, which resulted in them being shielded from the public.
Sources said Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Councilmembers David Cohen and Rosemary Kamei sent their emails about Torres for inclusion in an investigative file. The move blocked the emails from public disclosure.
“It was a series of calls. Several councilmembers decided to dump their emails on us,” a source said. “They all became nervous after the arrest. That’s when the dominoes started to fall. They wanted to avoid disclosure.”
Foley, Cohen and Kamei did not respond to requests for comment.
As first reported by San José Spotlight in October, a Chicago man involved in a sexual relationship with Torres messaged at least two San Jose councilmembers in April 2023 to warn them about Torres’ lewd conduct with minors — more than a year before his arrest.
Neither of the two councilmembers took any action.
The man sent a message to Kamei asking to discuss Torres, but the warning fell on deaf ears. Kamei subsequently demanded the city change email addresses for her chief of staff and two others despite still being employed by the city. Some emails in their original addresses included conversations about Torres and the tipster.
In a previous interview with San José Spotlight, Kamei acknowledged turning over her emails and other communications to law enforcement after his arrest.
Jim McManis, a prominent downtown attorney, is representing this news organization in a fight to get the records released — a move that could shed light on who knew about Torres’ criminal behavior and failed to report it.
Contact Ramona Giwargis at [email protected] or follow @RamonaGiwargis on X. Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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