Ex-city council members for Baldwin Park and Compton received 18-month prison sentences Monday for their roles in separate bribery cases.
According to federal prosecutors, former Compton Councilman Isaac Galvan, 39, pleaded guilty in December in downtown Los Angeles to one count each of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and tax evasion. Galvan admits in his plea agreement to bribing ex-Baldwin Park Councilman Ricardo Pacheco in a corruption scheme to secure commercial cannabis permits.
Along with the federal prison term, Galvan was ordered to pay restitution of $323,557, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Galvan, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 to May 2022, bribed then-Councilman Pacheco with $70,000 for the permits, according to Galvan’s plea agreement.
In June 2020 Pacheco pleaded guilty to an unrelated federal bribery charge and agreed to cooperate with an FBI corruption investigation that centered around approval of a police union contract.
In addition to the prison term, the former Baldwin Park councilman was fined $10,000 Monday and ordered to forfeit $219,755. The amount Pacheco will pay in restitution will be determined later, prosecutors said.
Co-defendant Yichang Bai, 52, of Arcadia, pleaded guilty to a federal charge and in July was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a $3,000 fine. Bai owns and operates the Diamond Bar-based import-export business W&F International Corp., which hired Galvan as a consultant.
The marijuana permits case stems from June 2017, when Baldwin Park began permitting cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and retail businesses within city limits. Shortly afterward, Pacheco started soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and related permits in the city, according to court documents.
In exchange for the bribes, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to help the companies obtain marijuana permits, including voting in their favor, according to prosecutors. Galvan first paid Pacheco $10,000 in August 2017 to secure Pacheco’s support for a future consulting client’s marijuana permit. After securing W&F as a client, Galvan facilitated $70,000 in bribes from Bai to Pacheco.
Pacheco, 63, of Baldwin Park, was on the City Council from 1997 until he resigned in June 2020.
Galvan paid the bribes in exchange for Pacheco’s political support and promise to deliver Baldwin Park’s approval of marijuana permits for W&F, according to prosecutors. Pacheco then voted to approve W&F’s cannabis business permit and later voted in favor of Bai’s bid to relocate its operations, court documents show.
Shortly after the votes to approve W&F’s move, Pacheco contacted Galvan and asked him to obtain more money from W&F for his legal defense fund, prosecutors said. Galvan told Bai that Pacheco wanted $25,000 for his fundraiser, but Bai insisted on $20,000 and provided seven checks from different bank accounts that did not belong to Bai or his business.
Galvan arranged for the checks to be delivered to Pacheco as further payment in exchange for his votes and support of W&F’s marijuana permit.
In addition to his corruption activities, Galvan also failed to file federal individual tax returns for the years 2017 through 2020. Prosecutors said he concealed his ownership and control of I&I LLC, a shell company Galvan used to solicit bribes for public officials and to facilitate paying those bribes.
Galvan also directed individuals to issue checks with blank payee lines to later be cashed and converted into income for himself. He also directed individuals to write checks for income he earned to conduits, who would pay for Galvan’s living expenses, including his rent.
Galvan failed to report roughly $560,525 in income for the tax years 2017 through 2020, and an unpaid tax bill totaling $115,816, prosecutors reported.
In a separate case, Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of bribery for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes — including $20,000 in cash — from a Baldwin Park Police officer working at the FBI’s direction, in exchange for the then-council member’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city.
Pacheco and the police union
The councilman — who later agreed to fully cooperate with federal prosecutors — solicited and received $37,900 in bribes from the BPPD officer from January through October 2018 to support the union contract, which was worth at least $4.4 million over three years, prosecutors said. The police officer who made the payments did so at the direction of the FBI after another officer and he approached the FBI and agreed to assist in its ongoing corruption investigation. In exchange for the payments, Pacheco voted in favor of the police union’s contract in March 2018.
According to court papers, the $20,000 cash bribe occurred in October 2018, which the police officer provided to Pacheco in an envelope in a Baldwin Park coffee shop. Pacheco also solicited and received nearly $18,000 in checks that he directed be made out to his church and phony political action committees he had established using other people’s names but which he controlled.
Pacheco’s resignation was part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. He also forfeited $83,145 in cash seized by the FBI, including $62,900 that Pacheco admitted burying in to spots in his backyard.