Ex-LA County Officials Involved in Cannabis Permit Bribery Scheme

December 7, 2024 TruthUSA

The recent revelations of guilty pleas, made in 2023, further demonstrate the extensive corruption linked to local cannabis permitting processes.

Officials in the cities of Commerce and Baldwin Park, located in Los Angeles County, have admitted guilt in 2023 for their involvement in a bribery scheme aimed at influencing Baldwin Park politicians’ votes regarding cannabis permit grants.

On December 5, the Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed that Edgar Pascual Cisneros, former city manager of Commerce, pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in November 2023 related to his role in a scheme that involved bribing local officials who participated in the Baldwin Park cannabis permitting process. Cisneros had occupied the role since November 2017.

Additionally, Robert Manuel Nacionales Tafoya, Baldwin Park’s city attorney from December 2013 to October 2022, entered a guilty plea in December 2023 on charges of federal bribery and tax evasion, as announced by the DOJ here.

Criminal charges and plea agreements were unsealed by federal prosecutors on December 5. Both Cisneros and Tafoya have committed to cooperating with ongoing investigations into public corruption.

Cannabis Scheme

Following Baldwin Park’s initiation of marijuana permits for cultivation, sales, and manufacturing within the city in June 2017, Ricardo Pacheco, a Baldwin Park City Council member at that time, began soliciting bribes from companies seeking the permits.

Cisneros aided a company in obtaining a marijuana permit and the requisite approvals by facilitating $45,000 in bribes to Pacheco. In addition, the company promised to give Cisneros a $235,000 kickback for his assistance in securing the permit.

Pacheco, who has a history of corruption, also admitted to orchestrating bribery schemes with Tafoya and Gabriel Chavez, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner who pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in November 2022.

Tafoya also confessed to avoiding $650,000 in federal tax obligations and served as a middleman in a bribery scheme between Pacheco and former Compton City Councilmember Isaac Galvan.

Much like Cisneros, Galvan attempted to secure a marijuana permit for a business by offering bribes to Pacheco.

Law enforcement arrested Galvan and a consulting client, Yichang Bai, in September 2023, accusing them of paying Pacheco $70,000 in bribes in exchange for his support for marijuana permits for Bai’s company, W&F International Corp.

Both individuals pleaded not guilty, and their trial is scheduled to commence on June 10, 2025.

Pacheco’s sentencing is set for February 2025, while Chavez will be sentenced in April 2025.

Pacheco’s Past

Pacheco had drawn the attention of law enforcement prior to the cannabis permitting charges in 2023.

In June 2020, he pleaded guilty to an unrelated federal bribery charge, admitting to soliciting and receiving $37,900 in bribes from a Baldwin Park police officer, who was then investigating corruption with the FBI. This included $20,000 in cash delivered at a coffee shop in Baldwin Park.

The bribes were also funneled through checks made out to various organizations controlled by Pacheco, such as a church and a fictitious political action committee established under others’ names but managed by him.

The police officer disbursed the bribes over a period of ten months from January to October 2018 in exchange for Pacheco’s vote to support a contract for the Police Association, which he cast in favor of in March 2018. In return for his plea, Pacheco agreed to resign from his City Council position.

Pacheco’s attorney has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Flawed Process

Corruption surrounding cannabis permit issuance is not a new issue. In April, California State Auditor Grant Park released a report highlighting deficiencies in the cannabis permitting processes at city and county levels.

The audit recommended implementing measures to mitigate favoritism and corrupt practices, including enhanced background checks and improved transparency.

In February 2023, Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Byron Jones-Sawyer requested the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit to evaluate the local cannabis permitting procedure.

“Allegations of corruption during the awarding of municipal cannabis operating licenses are far from new, particularly in California, where rumors of backdoor dealings between companies and public officials have circulated for years,” Jones-Sawyer stated in a letter to the committee chair.

Prior to this, in 2022, former Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia asked state Attorney General Rob Bonta to form a task force to investigate corruption in local cannabis licensing.

In an X post, she expressed hope that Bonta would look into and prosecute any illegal activities associated with the licensing process.

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