Former California councilman’s corruption unmasked after FBI finds cash buried in backyard

A former California councilman who admitted burying nearly $63,000 in cash in his backyard was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for taking bribes tied to a police-union contract and commercial marijuana permits, prosecutors said.

Ricardo Pacheco, 63, spent more than two decades on the Baldwin Park City Council before resigning in 2020 as part of his plea deal. Federal prosecutors said he used his elected office to collect cash and funnel other payments through his church and political groups.

The Department of Justice said Pacheco and former Compton City Councilman Isaac Jacob Galvan carried out “corrupt acts while they were elected officials,” including accepting and paying bribes for political support and city permits.

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Pacheco was also fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit $219,755. The FBI seized $83,145 in cash proceeds from him, including $62,900 that Pacheco said he had buried in two places in his backyard, prosecutors said. A restitution hearing is still to be scheduled.

Galvan, 39, received the same 18-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.

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The case began with the police-union deal.

Between January and October 2018, Pacheco solicited and received $37,900 from a Baldwin Park police officer in exchange for supporting the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city, prosecutors said. The deal was worth at least $4.4 million over three years.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.