Former Commerce official avoids prison in Baldwin Park marijuana bribery case

A former city of Commerce official who pleaded guilty to bribing a now-convicted Baldwin Park politician in exchange for his votes and influence over his city's cannabis permitting process was sentenced Tuesday to two years' probation and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.

Edgar Cisneros, 42, of Montebello, who served as Commerce's city manager from November 2017 to December 2023, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to a federal bribery count, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

His plea agreement filed in Los Angeles Federal Court states that shortly after Baldwin Park began issuing marijuana permits in June 2017, then-Baldwin Park City Councilman Ricardo Pacheco solicited bribes from companies seeking those permits.

Cisneros helped a company obtain a marijuana permit and related approvals through about $45,000 in bribes, with the company promising to pay Cisneros at least $235,000 to help secure the permit, federal prosecutors said.

Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a federal bribery charge unrelated to the marijuana-permit scheme. He further admitted to orchestrating bribery schemes involving two others.

Pacheco's sentencing hearing is scheduled for October.

The marijuana permits bribery cases extend throughout Los Angeles County and beyond.

In 2023, Isaac Jacob Galvan, 36, of Compton, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 until May 2022, was accused of allegedly paying bribes to Pacheco in exchange for securing marijuana permits, according to Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office.

In November 2022, prosecutors secured a guilty plea to a bribery charge from Gabriel Chavez, 66, of Upland, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner who admitted to funneling bribes through his company to Pacheco in exchange for the politician’s votes and influence over the city’s cannabis permitting process. Chavez’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 11.

Both Chavez and Pacheco have signed plea agreements in which they agreed to cooperate in the FBI and IRS investigation.

Additional reporting by City News Service.