Two former Southern California city councilmen are headed to prison after federal investigators uncovered $62,900 in illicit cash buried in the backyard of one of the men, authorities said.
Ricardo Pacheco, 63, of Baldwin Park, and Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, of Compton, were each sentenced Monday to 18 months behind bars for their roles in a bribery scheme exposed through an FBI undercover operation.
According to the Department of Justice, the Los Angeles County politicians took tens of thousands of dollars in payoffs tied to political backing for a police union contract and efforts to secure city approvals for marijuana cultivation permits.
Pacheco, who sat on the Baldwin Park City Council from 1997 until he resigned in 2020 and served as mayor pro tempore in 2018, was also fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit $219,755 at sentencing.
Galvan, who represented Compton on its City Council from 2013 to 2022, received the same 18-month prison sentence and was ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.
Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of federal program bribery after he was caught accepting a $20,000 cash bribe from a Baldwin Park police officer who was secretly cooperating with the FBI.
Federal prosecutors said the undercover officer paid Pacheco in exchange for the councilman’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city.
From January through October 2018, Pacheco accepted a total of $37,900 in bribes from the officer to support the Police Association agreement, a deal valued at no less than $4.4 million over three years, the Justice Department said.
Former Baldwin Park City Council member Ricardo Pacheco, 63, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after his bribery scheme was unearthed by the FBI
In return, Pacheco voted in favor of renewing the contract in March 2018.
The undercover cop gave Pacheco the $20,000 lump sum in an envelope in a Baldwin Park coffee shop, according to the DoJ.
He then received a further $17,900 in checks that he told city staff to pay out to his church and fake political action committees he had set up using other people’s names but which he controlled.
In June 2020, Pacheco resigned from his Baldwin Park City Council seat as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
He also forfeited $83,145 in cash proceeds seized by the FBI, which included $62,900 that he admitted to burying in two areas of his backyard.
Meanwhile, Pacheco’s co-conspirator Galvan, who took a cut of the bribes, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of federal program bribery and one count of evasion of tax assessment.
He admitted to paying $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco in exchange for his vote and support for commercial marijuana permits. Galvan also conceded that he failed to report to the IRS more than half a million dollars in income.
In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits.
Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 to 2022, was jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution for his part in the bribery scheme
Shortly afterwards, Pacheco started soliciting bribes from business owners who were seeking marijuana development agreements and permits in the city.
In exchange for the shady payments, Pacheco told them he would use his position of power to assist them with obtaining marijuana permits.
Among the businesses involved were W&F International Corp, a Diamond Bar-based import-export firm. Galvan offered consulting services to the business, then funneled $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco from the owner, Yichang Bai, 52, of Arcadia.
Pacheco promised to deliver Baldwin Park’s approval of the marijuana permits, which came in the summer of 2018, and also supported W&F’s bid to relocate its business.
Bai tried to cover their tracks by collecting checks from third parties who owed him money and then giving Galvan these checks with blank payee lines. Galvan then passed these checks on to Pacheco.
Bai also later funneled $20,000 across seven checks to Pacheco via Galvan as further payment for his votes.
Pacheco served on the Baldwin Park City Council, headquartered in Los Angeles County
Galvan also admitted to tax evasion by failing to file federal individual tax returns for the years 2017 through 2020.
He did this to conceal his ownership and control of a shell company, I&I LLC, which he had been using to solicit bribes for public officials.
In total, Galvan failed to report an estimated $560,525 in income for the tax years 2017 through 2020, causing a total loss to the US Treasury of $115,816, according to the DoJ.
Bai pleaded guilty on February 23 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
On July 6, District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who sentenced Pacheco and Galvan, also jailed Bai for 20 months in federal prison and fined him $3,000.
