Former Baldwin Park Councilman Sentenced to Prison for Bribery Scheme Involving Police Union and Marijuana Permits

A former Baldwin Park city councilman received an 18-month federal prison sentence Friday after admitting he buried nearly $63,000 in cash in his backyard as part of a scheme to solicit bribes from police unions and marijuana businesses seeking city permits. Ricardo Pacheco, 63, resigned from the Baldwin Park City Council in 2020 as part of a plea agreement that also imposed a $10,000 fine and required him to forfeit $219,755.

Federal prosecutors detailed how Pacheco leveraged his position to collect cash payments funneled through churches and political action committees he controlled. The FBI seized $83,145 in total cash proceeds from Pacheco, including the $62,900 he had buried in two separate locations on his property. A restitution hearing remains pending in the case.

Between January and October 2018, Pacheco solicited $37,900 from a Baldwin Park police officer working undercover at the FBI’s direction in exchange for supporting the Baldwin Park Police Association’s city contract, valued at more than $4.4 million over three years. In one October 2018 incident captured on video, the officer handed Pacheco a $20,000 bribe in an envelope at a local coffee shop.

Pacheco also received approximately $70,000 in bribes from Yichang Bai, owner of W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar import-export business seeking marijuana permits in Baldwin Park. These payments were obscured through checks from third parties, including instruments with blank payee lines, according to prosecutors.

Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, a former Compton City Councilman who facilitated the marijuana permit bribes, received an identical 18-month prison sentence and was ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution. Galvan also admitted failing to report approximately $560,525 in income to the IRS from 2017 through 2020, creating a tax loss of $115,816.

After his capture in the video-recorded sting, Pacheco became an FBI informant who wore a concealed wire while investigators built cases resulting in six indictments involving more than 20 individuals connected to local government and the marijuana industry. Yichang Bai pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and was sentenced in July to 20 months in federal prison with a $3,000 fine.