A sweeping public corruption case tied to a former San Gabriel Valley elected official came to light after FBI agents uncovered $62,900 in cash hidden in his backyard, authorities said.

Ricardo Pacheco, 63, a former Baldwin Park councilman, was sentenced this week to 18 months in federal prison for his part in the bribery scheme, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice.

In addition to the prison term, Pacheco was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit nearly $220,000, federal prosecutors said.

The prosecution also involved Jacob Galvan, 39, a former Compton councilman, who received the same 18-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.

Federal officials said the two men carried out “corrupt acts while they were elected officials,” including exchanging tens of thousands of dollars in bribes for a police union’s backing and for help securing official city permits connected to marijuana cultivation.

Pacheco served on the Baldwin Park council from 1997 to 2020 and briefly served as mayor pro tem in 2018. He pleaded guilty to corruption in June 2020.

He admitted accepting thousands of dollars in bribes — including a $20,000 cash payment from a Baldwin Park police officer secretly working with the FBI

Between January and October 2018, Pacheco solicited and received $37,900 from the undercover officer.

“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 DOJ said

“In exchange for the payments, Pacheco voted in favor of the Police Association contract in March 2018.” The contract was worth at least $4.4 million over three years.

Pacheco later became a federal informant, helping investigators take down a half-dozen figures tied to the marijuana industry and local government, the LA Times reported.

As part of his plea deal, Pacheco resigned from the council and forfeited $83,145 seized by the FBI — including the $62,900 buried in two spots in his backyard.

Galvan, who served on the Compton council from 2013 to 2022, admitted paying Pacheco $70,000 in bribes in exchange for his “votes and support for commercial marijuana permits,” according to the DOJ.

Galvan also admitted failing to report more than $500,000 in income to the IRS.

The corruption began taking shape in 2017, when Baldwin Park started seeking approval for marijuana cultivation, manufacturing and distribution within city limits, prosecutors said.

Pacheco began soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and permits, while Galvan acted as a “consultant” who connected marijuana operators with the councilman.

“In exchange for the illicit payments, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to assist the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor.”

Pacheco’s restitution hearing is scheduled for the coming weeks.

Queen Camilla is said to be “firmly on Team Kate” as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make their return to the UK, with royal commentator Andrew Lownie claiming she is encouraging King Charles to impose “clear boundaries” with the Sussexes.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Birmingham this week ahead of what is being described as an “extended stay” in Britain, during which their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have been enrolled at school.

Although reports have suggested the King was informed of their plans only three days before the news became public, Mr Lownie has backed claims of an Establishment “plot” to ease the couple back into life in the UK after they stepped down as working royals and relocated to the United States in 2020.

“The King and the Prince of Wales have long been aware of the Sussexes’ plan to return to Britain, but it has suited their purposes to distance themselves whilst public opinion is tested,” Mr Lownie told this newspaper.

He also claimed the Prince and Princess of Wales are “concerned” that Harry and Meghan, who are expected to live in a non-royal residence outside London, may be seeking the kind of “half-in, half-out” arrangement that was rejected when they first left frontline royal duties.

While their arrival threatens the possibility of ‘two competing courts’, there is little doubt about where the Queen’s loyalties lie, according to Mr Lownie.

‘The Queen, who is very close to Kate, has been stiffening the resolve of the King to establish clear boundaries for [Harry and Meghan],’ he claimed. 

‘There remains a great deal of family dissension about the way the King has handled the Sussex problem on top of the ‘ too little, too late’ strategy on the disgraced former prince Andrew and his family’.

The Daily Mail has contacted Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace for comment. 

Perhaps Camilla’s stance is unsurprising, considering Harry’s ‘very unflattering’ portrayal of her in Spare and in subsequent interviews promoting his ghostwritten memoir, which was leaked in January 2023. 

The crux of Harry’s accusations was that Camilla had embarked on a ‘dangerous’ campaign to ‘rehabilitate her image’ in the wake of her affair with the then-Prince of Wales. 

He described a ‘long-term strategy’ to become Queen Consort that involved ‘trading stories’ with the press to bolster her public image.   

‘Shortly after our private meetings with her, she began to develop her long-term strategy, a campaign directed at marriage and, with time, the Crown (with the blessing of our father, we supposed),’ the duke wrote. 

‘News stories started appearing in all the newspapers about her conversations with Willy, stories which recounted lots of small details, none of which came from my brother, of course.’

When Columbia Broadcasting System News’ 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper grilled Harry about his ‘unflattering portrayal’ of the Queen Consort, the duke doubled down on claims Camilla ‘needed to rehabilitate her image’ after Diana’s interview with Martin Bashir. 

Princess Diana’s interview with the former BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 marked the first time that she had publicly addressed claims that Charles and Camilla had an affair during her marriage to the then-Prince of Wales.

At the time, she sensationally told Bashir: ‘There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’

Speaking to Cooper, Harry accused his stepmother of ‘trading information’ with the press in an attempt to get more positive stories written about herself, before sensationally suggesting that her ‘connections’ with the media would end up with ‘people or bodies left in the street’.

‘[Her need to rehabilitate her image] made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,’ he told Cooper.

‘And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being Queen Consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that.’

When asked where his relationship with Camilla stands today, Harry conceded that they ‘haven’t spoken for a long time’, but added that he ‘loves every member of his family’ and that when he and the Queen Consort ‘see each other, we’re perfectly pleasant’. 

When they were finally reunited at Highgrove House last month, insiders told the Daily Mail the mood was ‘polite with no recrimination’. 

Queen Camilla joined Charles as they hosted the Sussexes, including their grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, for tea at the monarch’s Gloucestershire residence, while the Prince and Princess of Wales chose to skip the reunion in favour of a charity polo match. 

But Harry should not mistake the Queen’s ‘fixed smile’ for forgiveness just yet, claimed Mr Lownie. 

The author suggested Camilla has grown ‘very close to Kate’ in the years since Megxit while remaining wary of the King’s younger son and his wife. 

The pair put on a united front on Remembrance Sunday last year, with a body language expert telling the Daily Mail they shared a ‘warm chat’ while watching the service at the Cenotaph. 

Remarking on Camilla and Kate’s heartwarming moment, communication coach Judi James told the Daily Mail how the pair supported one another during the solemn event.

‘There was an exchange of what looked like warm chat between the present and future queens here, with Camilla’s rather playful smile and side-eye appearing to make Kate beam back down at her,’ she explained.

Camilla has not just grown closer with Kate in recent years, but also appears to share a warm relationship with the princess’s family – including her mother Carole Middleton. 

They have been spotted together many times this summer – including watching the races at Cheltenham, when Carole, 71, threw her arms around Princess Anne while chatting with Camilla in the Royal Box.

Commenting on Camilla’s fondness for Kate amid a drawing of lines over Harry’s homecoming, Mr Lownie said: ‘On Team Wales is the Queen, who is very close to Kate, and has been stiffening the resolve of the King to establish clear boundaries for the Sussexes. 

‘There remains a great deal of family dissension about the way the King has handled the Sussex problem, on top of the “too little, too late” strategy on the former Prince Andrew and his family.’ 

The historian, whose most recent book examined the ‘rise and fall of the House of York’ in the wake of the Epstein scandal, added that The Firm is currently employing a ‘wait and watch’ strategy when it comes to the Sussexes. 

They will be trying to gauge ‘public reaction, to see if the Sussexes can be trusted not to betray confidences’ like they did with Spare, their incendiary Netflix docuseries, and their interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

It might explain why the Waleses have not commented on the latest twist to the Megxit saga, after Harry and Meghan landed at Birmingham airport before being whisked away to their new home – widely speculated to be in the Cotswolds – earlier this week  

‘The Waleses feel no need to respond for the moment, but they are concerned that the strategy has given Harry what he originally wanted of “half in, half out” and that there is a danger of two competing courts and scope for embarrassment and upstaging,’ Mr Lownie said. 

‘It’s a rerun of the behaviour of the Duke of Windsor when he saw an opportunity to return to Britain after the war with the poor health of George Vl.’