A former California city councilman who acknowledged hiding nearly $63,000 in cash in his backyard was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for accepting bribes connected to a police union contract and commercial cannabis permits, federal prosecutors said.
Ricardo Pacheco, 63, served for more than 20 years on the Baldwin Park City Council before stepping down in 2020 under the terms of his plea agreement. Prosecutors said he exploited his elected position to take cash payments and route other money through his church and political organizations.
According to the Department of Justice, Pacheco and former Compton City Councilman Isaac Jacob Galvan engaged in “corrupt acts while they were elected officials,” including taking and making bribe payments in exchange for political backing and city permits.
Former Baldwin Park Councilman Ricardo Pacheco appears at an event before his federal prison sentence. (Mayor Manuel Lozano Facebook)
In addition to the prison term, Pacheco was fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit $219,755. Federal agents seized $83,145 in cash proceeds from him, including $62,900 that prosecutors said Pacheco admitted he had buried in two separate spots in his backyard. A hearing to determine restitution has not yet been scheduled.
Galvan, 39, was also sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.
The corruption case first unfolded around a police union contract.
From January through October 2018, Pacheco solicited and accepted $37,900 from a Baldwin Park police officer in return for backing the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city, prosecutors said. The agreement was valued at no less than $4.4 million over three years.
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Ricardo Pacheco, center, appears at a Baldwin Park community event. (Mayor Manuel Lozano Facebook)
The officer was working at the FBI’s direction after he and another officer approached the bureau to assist in its corruption investigation, according to the DOJ.
In October 2018, the officer handed Pacheco a $20,000 cash bribe inside an envelope at a Baldwin Park coffee shop, prosecutors said. Pacheco also directed $17,900 in checks to his church and political action committees that were set up in other people’s names but controlled by him, according to the DOJ.
Pacheco voted for the police association contract in March 2018.
Pacheco later became an FBI informant after agents caught him in a video-recorded sting at the coffee shop, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The outlet reported that Pacheco wore a concealed wire as investigators built cases that led to six indictments involving more than 20 people tied to local government and the marijuana industry.
The outlet also reported that the wider investigation implicated figures including Galvan, a former Baldwin Park city attorney, a Commerce city manager, a San Bernardino County planning commissioner and a marijuana distributor.
The case also uncovered an alleged pay-to-play system around marijuana permits in Baldwin Park.
Commercial cannabis plants. Marijuana permits were central to the Baldwin Park bribery case. (Jill Connelly/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The city began allowing marijuana cultivation, manufacturing and distribution in 2017. Prosecutors said Pacheco soon began seeking money from businesses pursuing development agreements and related permits.
Galvan, who was then serving on the Compton City Council, offered consulting services to W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar import-export business that wanted a marijuana permit in Baldwin Park, prosecutors said.
Galvan then helped facilitate $70,000 in bribes from the company’s owner, Yichang Bai, to Pacheco in return for the councilman’s votes and political backing, according to the DOJ.
Former Compton City Councilman Isaac Jacob Galvan was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. (Fox 11 Los Angeles)
Pacheco delivered, prosecutors said, voting in favor of W&F’s permit in June and July 2018 and later supporting the company’s effort to relocate its operations.
The payments were obscured through checks from third parties, including checks with blank payee lines, prosecutors said. When Pacheco later sought more money for his legal defense fund, Galvan told Bai the councilman wanted $25,000. Bai agreed to provide $20,000 through seven checks from bank accounts that were not his or W&F’s, the DOJ said.
Galvan also admitted he failed to report about $560,525 in income to the IRS from 2017 through 2020. Prosecutors said the scheme caused a tax loss of $115,816.
Bai pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and was sentenced in July to 20 months in federal prison and a $3,000 fine.
