Former Compton councilman pleads guilty in scheme involving secret bribes and corrupt officials

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Former Compton City Councilmember Isaac Galvan pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal criminal charges for bribing a Baldwin Park city councilman, whom he paid $70,000 in exchange for city marijuana permits.Galvan, who ran a consulting service, was involved in a scheme in which he facilitated bribes to Councilman Ricardo Pacheco from one of Galvan’s clients who wanted a marijuana permit in Baldwin Park.Galvan, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of tax evasion for failing to report more than half a million dollars in income.He served on the Compton City Council from 2013 to 2022, when he lost his seat amid a vote-rigging scandal that led to him being charged with election fraud.

In 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture and distribution of marijuana within its city limits.Then-Councilmember Pacheco was 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, a council member until 2020, agreed to use his position to get a firm’s marijuana permits approved, the documents say.Galvan, who represented W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar-based import-export business, wanted a marijuana permit for W&F in Baldwin Park.According to the plea agreement, Galvan facilitated $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco from Yichang Bai, 52, of Arcadia, the owner and operator of W&F.

Bai has pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging he helped orchestrate the bribery scheme, and his case is set to go to trial in February.Galvan paid the bribes in exchange for Pacheco’s political support and the councilman’s promise to deliver Baldwin Park’s approval of marijuana permits for W&F.Pacheco then delivered, voting in favor of the firm’s marijuana permit in June and July of 2018 and, later that year, voting in ...