LOS ANGELES
A former Compton city councilman was arrested Monday on a federal grand jury indictment alleging he and his consulting client paid $70,000 in bribes to a Baldwin Park City Council member,officials stated.
The bribes were exchanged 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 residence on a 10-count indictment filed on September 13 and unsealed Monday.
Special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation also arrested Yichang Bai, 50, of Arcadia, the owner and operator of W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar-based import-export business, along with a consulting client of Galvan’s who allegedly helped orchestrate the bribery scheme.
The 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 presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
“Former Compton City Councilmember Isaac Galvan stands accused of paying tens of thousands of dollars to a corrupt member of the Baldwin Park City Council in order to enrich himself and a client with a marijuana business,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “This case is yet another example of my office’s determination to root out public corruption and backroom deals that corrode our political system. We will continue to pursue politicians who violate their sacred oaths by placing their own desires ahead of their constituents’ needs.”
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 help the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor.
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 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.
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 arranged for them to be cashed by either him or third parties.
If convicted of all charges, Galvan and Bai 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 for each honest services wire fraud count.
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 council member’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city. Pacheco’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 17, 2024.
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 December 11.
Both Chavez and Pacheco have signed plea agreements agreeing to cooperate in the government’s ongoing investigation.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation are investigating this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas F. Rybarczyk, Michael J. Morse, and Lindsey Greer Dotson of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section are prosecuting this case.
Any member of the public who has information related to this or any other public corruption matter is encouraged to send information to the FBI’s email tip line at [email protected] or to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.