Former San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres, who was convicted in April of molesting a younger male relative, faced a fraught sentencing hearing Friday in which his victim yelled at him and called him a "monster."

Omar Torres, 43, will be sentenced Friday, after he pleaded no contest in April to charges of sodomy, oral copulation by force, and lewd and lascivious acts on a minor under the age of 14. The victim in the case, a male relative who is five years younger than him, remained silent for decades but came forward and told his story to police last fall after it became public that Torres had exchanged text messages with an acquaintance admitting to having sex with someone underage.

In court documents, it was revealed that Torres had messaged a 21-year-old Chicago man, Terry Beeks, saying, "U got any homies under 18. I want hella homies u will see i’m wild in bed." He also told Beeks that he had had oral sex with someone 17 years old. Torres initially passed these texts off as "fantasy role play."

The victim now says that he came forward following news stories about the texts, because he did not want Torres to continue victimizing children and teens, as he had done to him.

As KRON4 reports, "tensions were high" in the courtroom in San Jose Friday morning, with family members of Torres who support him sitting on one side of the gallery, and other family members who support the victim on the opposite side. The judge reportedly had to admonish those in the gallery because words must have been being exchanged between the two sides.

Torres has said that he was a victim of abuse himself, and he admitted to the victim in a recorded phone call that, as a nine-year-old boy, after suffering that abuse, he sought to victimize someone else. The victim was four years old at the time when the abuse began, in 1990, and continued until he was 13 and Torres was 18, in 1999.

The victim reportedly gave graphic testimony in court about being raped, calling Torres a "monster," and asking the judge to hand down the harshest possible sentence.

While Torres could have faced up to 24 years behind bars, the judge opted to sentence Torres to 18 years, per KRON4.

In a statement, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, "Today’s sentence holds Omar Torres accountable for perpetrating horrendous crimes against a child. No one is above the law, and it is never too late for justice. We admire the victim’s courage to come forward to report the abuse he suffered."

Torres was arrested on November 5,  2024, and was being held without bail, after the victim came forward and offered to record a phone call with Torres for police. He admitted in the phone call to sexually assaulting the victim 20 to 25 times over the course of nine years.

Torres resigned from the San Jose City Council two weeks after his arrest. A special election to fill his seat was held in April.

Previously: Disgraced San Jose City Councilmember Convicted of Molesting a Minor Decades Ago