Two ex-California councilmen jailed after FBI finds $62,900 in stolen cash buried in backyard

Ricardo Pacheco, 63, of Baldwin Park concealed nearly $63,000 across two locations in his garden after accepting $37,900 in bribes from an undercover FBI officer in return for supporting a police union contract valued at a minimum of $4.4 million. A federal judge handed him an 18-month prison sentence, a $10,000 fine and ordered forfeiture of $219,755. His co-conspirator, former Compton City Councilman Isaac Jacob Galvan, 39, received an identical prison term and faces $323,557 in restitution. The Department of Justice said both men committed "corrupt acts while they were elected officials."

The $20,000 opening bribe to Pacheco was delivered in an envelope by the undercover officer at a Baldwin Park coffee shop.

Beyond the police union contract, both men also took payments in exchange for city-issued cultivation permits for marijuana operations.

Pacheco subsequently cooperated with federal authorities as an informant, assisting investigators in building cases against roughly six individuals connected to the cannabis sector and municipal government.