🏛 Convicted NJ mayor faces new criminal charge
❌ After prison, ex-mayor tried to run again for office
🚨 For ignoring terms of plea, Joey Torres faces more prison
A mayor convicted of misconduct is facing a new criminal charge — after he tried to run for re-election after getting out of prison.
Ex-Paterson Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres was sentenced to five years in 2017, after admitting to illegally using city workers who were on the clock to instead help with a family business out of a private warehouse.
As part of his plea deal on a count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct, Torres was permanently barred from public office and public employment in New Jersey.
Paterson City hall (Google Maps)
Despite those terms, the 64-year-old Torres launched a new bid to become Paterson’s mayor in 2022.
In February of last year, he made a public speech, asking the crowd in attendance to help “return him to City Hall.”
Torres went to the Paterson City Clerk’s Office the following month with a stack of purported nominating petitions.
Google Maps, Townsquare Media)
After they were rejected by the clerk, Torres still didn’t quit — filing a civil action seeking to compel the clerk’s office to accept the petitions.
AG: Torres showed ‘remarkable brashness’
A state grand jury in Trenton on Tuesday voted to file a criminal contempt-of-court charge against Torres.
If convicted of the charge, Torres could face up to another 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
“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,” state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a written release.
He continued “That is bold. And, according to the grand jury, it is also indictable.”
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Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
