A former Compton City Council member is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a federal charge alleging he took part in a bribery scheme to secure marijuana permits.
Isaac Galvan and an Arcadia businessman allegedly bribed Ricardo Pacheco when he was a Baldwin Park councilman with $70,000 for the permits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Galvan, 38, of Compton, has agreed to plead guilty in Los Angeles federal court to a single count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. He served on the Compton City Council from 2013 until May 2022, when he lost his seat amid an election rigging scandal.
Co-defendant Yichang Bai, 52, of Arcadia, owner-operator of import-export business W&F International and a Galvan consulting client, allegedly helped orchestrate the bribery scheme. He is scheduled for trial in February.
In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits. Soon afterward, Pacheco 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 allegedly first paid Pacheco a $10,000 bribe in August 2017 to secure Pacheco’s support for a future consulting client’s marijuana permit.
After securing W&F as a client, Galvan facilitated $70,000 in bribes from Bai to Pacheco, prosecutors contend.
Pacheco, 62, of Baldwin Park, served on Baldwin Park’s city council from 1997 until his resignation in June 2020.
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 Bai’s bid to relocate its operations.
Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a federal bribery charge unrelated to the marijuana-permit scheme. He agreed to cooperate in the government’s public corruption probe and is expected to be sentenced in March.