Paterson Mayor Joey Torres resigns after pleading guilty to corruption

PATERSON, New Jersey (WABC) -- Paterson Mayor Joey Torres, who pleaded guilty to corruption last week, has abandoned his bid to stay in office until he's sentenced.

Torres resigned at the start of the business day Monday after notifying the city a night earlier that he would be stepping down.

He had pleaded guilty Friday, but initially sought to stay in office until Nov. 3 to provide a "smooth transition."

Torres pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit official misconduct. As part of the guilty plea, Torres agreed to step down as mayor and will pay full restitution of $10,000 for the work performed on his family's warehouse.

Torres and three city public works officials were charged with conspiring to have city employees work overtime at a warehouse leased by the mayor's family. But the attorney general's office last spring offered co-defendants plea bargains allowing them to avoid jail time if they testified against the mayor.

A judge signed an order Monday removing Torres from office, the attorney general's office said.

Torres won in 2002 as a Democrat and was re-elected in 2006. He lost a re-election bid in 2010, but won the office again in 2014 as an independent.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)