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PATERSON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey mayor has pleaded guilty to corruption charges, which means he will be forced to step down from his job.

The Bergen Record (https://njersy.co/2foEUx0 ) says Jose “Joey” Torres made the decision Friday, after months of saying he was innocent.

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.

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, running as an independent.

He will be replaced by City Council President Ruby Cotton until the May 2018 election.

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Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com