Documents unsealed Thursday show two former city officials in Commerce and Baldwin Park pleaded guilty last year to separately bribing a now-convicted Baldwin Park politician in exchange for his votes and influence over his city's cannabis permitting process.
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Edgar Cisneros, 42, of Montebello, who served as Commerce's city manager for six years, pleaded guilty to federal bribery. Robert Tafoya, 62, of Redondo Beach, who spent nine years as Baldwin Park's city attorney, pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax evasion charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday after the criminal charges and plea agreements were unsealed.
Both Cisneros and Tafoya agreed to cooperate in ongoing public corruption investigations, according to the documents filed in L.A. federal court.
The plea agreements state that shortly after Baldwin Park began issuing marijuana permits in June 2017, then-Baldwin Park City Councilmember 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 and that the company promised to pay Cisneros at least $235,000 to help secure the permit, federal prosecutors said.
Tafoya facilitated a separate bribery scheme involving former Compton City Council member Isaac Galvan, in which Galvan sought to obtain a marijuana permit for his consulting client also through bribes to Pacheco. Tafoya further admitted to evading payment of about $650,000 in federal tax liability, the documents show.
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 Tafoya and Gabriel Chavez, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner who pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge two years ago.
Pacheco's sentencing hearing is scheduled for February. Chavez is expected to be sentenced in April.
In September 2023, Galvan and his consulting client, Yichang Bai, were arrested on a federal grand jury indictment, alleging they paid $70,000 in bribes to Pacheco in exchange for his vote and support for marijuana permits for Bai's company, W&F International Corp. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is expected in June.
Sentencing dates for Cisneros and Tafoya are under seal, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
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