'Bold' Former NJ Mayor Indicted For Launching New Campaign, Despite Past Imprisonment: AG

PATERSON, NJ — A former North Jersey mayor faces more time in prison for collecting petitions to run for office four years after he was banned from doing so, state officials said.

On Tuesday, a state grand jury in Trenton handed down an indictment against Jose “Joey” Torres, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Torres— previously imprisoned for misconduct from his time as Paterson mayor — was charged again for launching a campaign for the position in 2022, as Patch reported. This indictment follows an investigation by the the Corruption Bureau of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said AG Matthew J. Platkin's office.

The grand jury concluded a new fourth-degree charge of criminal contempt was warranted, Platkin said.

Torres first won a seat on Paterson City Council in 1990, serving for five teams. The Democrat served as mayor of New Jersey's third-largest city from 2002-10.

He was again elected for the position in 2014, running as an independent candidate. Torres was arraigned on corruption charges in April 2017 and was forced to step down from his mayoral seat the following September after pleading guilty.

As mayor, officials alleged Torres directed city employees to work at a private warehouse leased by his daughter and nephew on the city's dime. He was sentenced to five years in prison following his guilty plea.

Torres was released from prison in late 2018 after serving 13 months behind bars, since the plea agreement gave him the opportunity to serve for a lesser charge, according to officials. But Torres's plea bargain prohibited him from public office or employment.

The former officeholder made a public speech on Feb. 12, 2022 stating he was running for mayor of Paterson that year, urging audience members to vote for him, according to the original criminal complaint. This went against the ban imposed after he pleaded guilty in 2017.

Torres went to the Paterson City Clerk's Office on March 4 and presented a stack of 1,150 purported signatures supporting his candidacy. The office rejected the nominating petitions, according to state officials. As a result, Torres filed a civil action seeking to compel the clerk's office to accept the petitions, citing irreparable harm if he couldn't run, the complaint states.

The former mayor's plea deal states that if Torres makes any application for public employment, he is subject to a fourth-degree charge of criminal contempt.

“It takes remarkable brashness to flout a state court order and then attempt to strong-arm the city clerk, via civil litigation, into allowing an impermissible campaign to proceed,” said Attorney General Platkin. “That is bold. And, according to the grand jury, it is also indictable.”

The attorney general's office charged him in March 2022 via complaint-summons, with the more formal indictment coming Tuesday, Sept. 26.

“Under state law and a court order, this defendant was forever disqualified from holding any public office or position of honor or public trust,” said OPIA Executive Director Thomas Eicher. “His alleged disregard for that order, and the rule of law, illustrates why he cannot, and should not, hold public office in the future.”

If convicted, fourth-degree crimes carry up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Torres' defense counsel is Michael DeMarco of DeMarco & DeMarco, P.C., North Haledon, per court records.

Patch's Josh Bakan contributed to this report.