(KRON) -- Controversial San Jose city councilmember Omar Torres plans to step away from the city council, he said Wednesday in a memo obtained by KRON4. He says the leave of absence was recommended by his doctor as he deals with mental health struggles. Torres is under investigation for oral copulation of a minor, according to a sworn police affidavit obtained by KRON4. San Jose's mayor and city council have called on him to resign. Torres requested to take the next 30 days off, which he says would allow him "the necessary space to recover." His office will remain fully operational while he is gone, the council member said. "The allegations made against me have significantly impacted my emotional and mental well-being," Torres said. On Tuesday, the city council voted to remove Torres from all of his council-assigned appointments. “Omar Torres is holding his seat hostage and taking away the right to representation from 100,000 residents of San Jose even after the entire council has called for his resignation. While we don’t have the tools we need to fully remove him from office as the community has asked us to do, we can and have stripped him from all committees, boards and commissions,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. The affidavit, written by a San Jose police officer, contains statements from Torres that say he was extorted by a 21-year-old man from Chicago named Terry Beeks. Torres said he sent money to Beeks after he threatened to release nude photos of the council member. In total, Torres admitted to sending Beeks $22,000. Beeks told police that Torres sent him a photo of an underage boy and made comments about the boy's penis. Torres also allegedly asked Beeks about "finding minors," said the SJPD officer who wrote the affidavit. SJPD received permission to search Beeks' text message and found a text from Torres that stated he had oral sex with a 17-year-old. Torres' attorney responded to the allegations saying that Torres maintains his innocence. "The content referenced in the affidavit pertains solely to private communications between adults of age that involved talk of outrageous fantasy and role play," the lawyer said. If Torres records five unexcused absences to city council meetings, he will be removed from the city council. He has missed two meetings so far, one of which was excused. His memo asks for the other absence to be excused, as well as absences for the next two city council meetings.