‘Agent of God’ in Custody on Bad-Check Charges : Crime: Arrested as he gets out of limousine, Hector Torres allegedly punches, struggles with arresting officer, resulting in additional counts.

TUSTIN â€”  Hector Torres, the self-proclaimed agent of God who has allegedly left a trail of worthless checks all over Orange County, was arrested as he stepped from a limousine, police said Monday.

As Torres approached his Santa Ana apartment building Friday night, he faced felony bad-check charges. But by the time he left in a police car, the list of charges against him had lengthened.

Tustin police investigator Chris Schwartz said she and Sgt. Michael Shanahan confronted Torres, 42, as he was about to enter the apartment complex on South Main Street near Warner Avenue. He was dressed in his usual manner, Schwartz said: all in white.

As the black stretch limousine waited on the street, Shanahan told Torres he had an arrest warrant and tried to put handcuffs on him, but Torres spun and punched him in the throat, Schwartz said.

After a brief struggle, Shanahan took Torres into custody, Schwartz said.

In addition to the outstanding felony bad-check charges, on which the arrest warrant had been issued, Torres now faces charges of resisting arrest and assault on a police officer, Schwartz said. He was being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

But as Torres reportedly has done before, he insisted the charges would not stick.

“He was almost hysterical, saying he would be freed, that no court could hold him,� Schwartz said.

Friday’s arrest marks the second time police have detained Torres. The first time, he slipped away from them because prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to go to trial on an accusation that Torres and another man, Esteban Aviles, had “bought� a used luxury car with a worthless $15,000 check in December. Police are still looking for the car and for Aviles.

When Schwartz and Shanahan approached Torres’ apartment building Friday night, a Chevrolet Sprint registered to Aviles was parked in front, with the hood still warm, Schwartz said. And as Shanahan and Torres struggled, two men ran out of the apartment building, jumped into the Sprint and raced away, she said.

Tustin police have been investigating an alleged string of $32,000 in bad checks written by Torres, all with such notations in the lower left corner as “exempt� or “loan,� which purportedly excuse him from making good on the debt. In letters to police and merchants, Torres has said his religious work makes such financial burdens unnecessary.

His business cards identify Torres as a “Doctor of Divinity� with the “Spirit House of God.�

Schwartz said that Tustin police are also investigating check-writing activities of Eugen Cosma, who owns Cosmapolitan Limousine Co. in Costa Mesa. Court files show that in February, Cosma deposited $15,350 in checks--signed by Torres and bearing the lower-left corner notations--into Cosma’s bank account, then withdrew the money in cash before the bank realized the checks were worthless.

Police at first thought Cosma had been victimized by Torres, but now believe the two are working in tandem, Schwartz said. Court records indicate that bank officials have given police videotapes showing Torres accompanying Cosma to the teller window.

In a telephone interview, Cosma, 34, said he was unaware that Torres’ account lacked the funds to cover the checks. He said he was angry at first, but now agrees with Torres’ theory of exemption from financial obligation. He said that sections of the Uniform Commercial Code, other legal codes and the Bible support their point of view.

Cosma said Torres was his “protector and spiritual counselor� and that on Torres’ advice, he had signed a power of attorney giving Torres control of all his legal and financial affairs.

Schwartz said Orange police have also begun an investigation into $3,000 in bad checks that Cosma allegedly wrote in that city, most bearing the “exempt� notation in the corner. Cosma denied knowingly writing any bad checks.