Former Compton councilman arrested for allegedly paying bribes for marijuana permits
COMPTON, Calif. - A former Compton city councilman was arrested Monday on federal charges alleging he and a business associate paid $70,000 in bribes to a member of the Baldwin Park City Council in exchange for that official's votes and support for commercial marijuana permits.
Isaac Jacob Galvan, 36, of Compton, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 until May 2022, was arrested at his home on a 10-count indictment unsealed Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation on Monday also arrested Yichang Bai, 50, of Arcadia, the owner and operator of W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar-based import-export business and a consulting client of Galvan's who allegedly helped orchestrate the scheme.
The criminal indictment charges Galvan and Bai with one count of conspiracy, one count of bribery and eight counts of honest services wire fraud. The defendants are expected to be arraigned Monday afternoon in Los Angeles federal court.
Donald Always, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said the FBI arrested Galvan "for allegedly using his position of power to bribe an elected city official in order to enrich himself and a client."
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"As these actions erode the public's trust and harm the communities these officials were elected to serve, FBI Los Angeles will continue to investigate them and those individuals who enable their corrupt schemes," Always said in a statement.
In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits. Soon afterward, then-Baldwin Park City Councilman Ricardo Pacheco, 60, of Baldwin Park, began soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and related permits in the city, according to court documents.
In exchange for the illicit payments, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to assist the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor, federal prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Galvan first paid Pacheco a $10,000 bribe in August 2017 to secure Pacheco's support for a future consulting client's marijuana permit.
Then, after securing Bai's company W&F as a client, Galvan facilitated $70,000 in bribes from Bai to Pacheco. Pacheco served on Baldwin Park's city council from 1997 until his resignation in June 2020, and he was the city's mayor pro tempore in 2018.
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Galvan allegedly paid the bribes in exchange for Pacheco's political support of and promise to deliver Baldwin Park's approval of marijuana permits for W&F. Pacheco then delivered, voting in favor of W&F's marijuana permit and later voting in favor of W&F's bid to relocate its operations.
Throughout the scheme, Galvan and Bai allegedly took steps to cover up their illegal payments to Pacheco by concealing Bai and W&F's connection to the payments for Pacheco. For example, Bai collected checks from third parties who owed him money and then -- at Galvan's direction -- gave Galvan the checks with blank payee lines. Galvan then gave the checks to Pacheco, who then arranged for them to be cashed, either by him or third parties.
If convicted of all charges, Galvan and Bai would face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count, up to 10 years for the bribery count and up to 20 years in prison for each honest services wire fraud count, prosecutors said.
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 councilman's political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association's contract with the city. Pacheco's sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 17.
In November 2022, prosecutors secured a guilty plea to a bribery charge from Gabriel Chavez, 66, of Upland, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner who admitted to funneling bribes through his company to Pacheco in exchange for the politician's votes and influence over the city's cannabis permitting process. Chavez's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, both Chavez and Pacheco have signed plea agreements in which they have agreed to cooperate in the government's ongoing investigation.