A pair of former Los Angeles area lawmakers were sentenced last week for their roles in a bribery scheme. According to an Aug. 24, 2026, press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Ricardo Pacheco and Isaac Jacob Galvan were both sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
Both Pacheco and Galvan have been fined and forced to make financial restitution as well. However, the press release notes that the restitution hearing still needs to be scheduled for Pacheco.
The FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation worked together during this investigation, which involved reviewing years’ worth of alleged bribes between the two men and other parties. Both Pacheco and Galvan eventually pleaded guilty to their crimes.
Now, this massive corruption scheme is making headlines as the shocking details of the case have been shared, with coverage from outlets like the New York Post, Los Angeles Times, and Fox News.
Thousands of Dollars Were Found Buried in Pacheco’s Backyard
The New York Post reports that the FBI found $62,900 worth of cash buried in Pacheco’s backyard during the course of the investigation. The former Baldwin Park council member served from 1997 to 2020. During that time, he was accused of accepting numerous bribes, including a $20,000 cash payment from a local police officer who was working with the FBI.
“The police officer who made the payments did so at the direction of the FBI after another officer and he approached the FBI and agreed to assist in its ongoing corruption investigation,” the press release stated. After getting busted, Pacheco then worked with the FBI as a federal informant, helping bring down 12 more people, some of whom also had ties to local government.
Pacheco later pleaded guilty, entering a plea deal that included his resignation from the council as well as forfeiting $219,755.
Galvan Also Pleaded Guilty
Meanwhile, Galvan pleaded guilty to one count of evasion of tax assessment and one count of federal program bribery, and he was charged with facilitating bribes to Pacheco in exchange for his support of commercial marijuana permits. According to the press release, Galvan also failed to file taxes from 2017 through 2020 and concealed ownership of some additional assets by using shell companies, which were also used to solicit bribes.
Galvan was accused of failing to report around $560,525 in income, shorting the IRS $115,816.
A Los Angeles Times Facebook post about the sentencing drew mixed responses from commenters. A lot of people are saying that the amount of money these men made wasn’t enough to blow up their lives over. “What a joke, keeping the $62k in cash instead of gold,” one person wrote. “And $62,000 really isn’t that much.”
“Not very successful fraud $62,000 for cannabis when it’s a million dollars enterprise,” another person wrote in part.
Successful or not, both men now face the consequences of their crimes. Hopefully they can learn from their mistakes and find something else to do with their lives once they’re released.