Former Paterson Mayor Joey Torres Pleads Guilty to Contempt of Court for Violating Court Ban on Running for Office

TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that Jose “Joey” Torres, the former mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in connection with his 2022 campaign to retake the mayor’s seat, which violated a 2017 judicial order banning him from running for or holding public office.

Torres, 66, of Paterson, pleaded guilty to criminal contempt-of-court (4th degree) during a hearing on December 19, 2024, before New Jersey Superior Court Judge Marilyn C. Clark, presiding in Passaic County. He had been indicted on that charge following an investigation by OPIA’s Corruption Bureau.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, the State will recommend that the court impose a sentence of non-custodial probation, the length of which will be determined by the court at sentencing, along with any mandatory fines.

“After his first conviction, the defendant had fair warning that any future attempt to return to public office or employment would result in a criminal charge. But he tried to run for his old seat anyway,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The conviction secured by OPIA’s Corruption Bureau sends the message that, when state law and the court say a disqualification is forever, they mean it. And those who don’t take forfeiture orders seriously will see us in court again.”

“After being convicted of a public corruption crime, the defendant tried to claim that the court’s order didn’t mean what it said,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “No one is above the law, as this conviction demonstrates.”

Torres previously pleaded guilty on September 22, 2017, to a charge of conspiracy to commit official misconduct in a prosecution carried out by the Attorney General’s Corruption Bureau. He was sentenced to five years in state prison. As a result of his guilty plea, he forfeited his position as mayor and was permanently barred from public office and public employment in New Jersey.

The court’s forfeiture order, entered on Sept. 25, 2017, forever disqualified Torres, pursuant to state law, from holding public office. That order provided that if Torres applied for public employment in violation of the order, he would be subject to a fourth-degree charge of criminal contempt.

The prior conviction related to Torres’ directive to city employees to perform work at a private warehouse leased by his daughter and nephew while the employees were being compensated by city taxpayers. An investigation revealed that under Torres’ supervision, employees of the Paterson Department of Public Works did work on the private property to benefit the mayor’s family members.

In March 2022, the Attorney General’s Office filed a new charge of criminal contempt against Torres when he launched a new mayoral bid in violation of the court’s forfeiture order. On September 26, 2023, a state grand jury voted to indict the former mayor for criminal contempt.

The complaint against Torres alleged that, in February 2022, Torres made a public speech stating that he was running for mayor of the City of Paterson in the 2022 election and requesting that the people return him to City Hall. Torres subsequently went to the Paterson City Clerk’s Office and presented a stack of purported nominating petitions in support of his illegal candidacy. The clerk rejected the petitions. Torres then filed a civil lawsuit seeking to compel the clerk’s office to accept the petitions.

As charged, and as reflected in today’s guilty plea, by holding himself out as a candidate for mayor, soliciting signatures to gain the nomination, and attempting to submit those petitions at the clerk’s office, Torres purposely and knowingly disobeyed the 2017 forfeiture order.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Adam Gerken under the supervision of OPIA Corruption Bureau Deputy Chief Frank L. Valdinoto, Bureau Co-Director Jeffrey J. Manis, and OPIA Executive Director Skinner.

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Defense Attorney:
Michael De Marco of De Marco & De Marco, P.C., North Haledon