LOS ANGELES — A former Compton city councilman was arrested Monday on federal charges alleging he and a business associate paid $70,000 in bribes to a member of the Baldwin Park City Council in exchange 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 home on a 10-count indictment unsealed Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation on Monday also arrested Yichang Bai, 50, of Arcadia, the owner and operator of W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar-based import-export business and a consulting client of Galvan’s who allegedly helped orchestrate the scheme.
The criminal indictment charges Galvan and Bai with one count of conspiracy, one count of bribery and eight counts of honest services wire fraud.
Both defendants entered not guilty pleas during arraignment hearings in Los Angeles federal court and were granted release on unsecured bonds. A tentative trial date of Nov. 14 was set.
Donald Always, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said the FBI arrested Galvan “for allegedly using his position of power to bribe an elected city official in order to enrich himself and a client.”
“As these actions erode the public’s trust and harm the communities these officials were elected to serve, FBI Los Angeles will continue to investigate them and those individuals who enable their corrupt schemes,” Always said in a statement.
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…
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