Former Commerce Official Admits to Parking Lot Kickbacks

A former city manager for Commerce accused of public corruption has secretly pleaded guilty to federal charges of accepting $120,000 in bribes for allowing big-rigs to park on city lots.

Edgar Cisneros admitted he pocketed up to $10,000 a month in 2021 and 2022 in exchange for renting two of the city’s empty lots for $2,700 per month to a company that subleased them to truckers during the pandemic, the Pasadena Star News reported, citing an unsealed plea agreement.

An assessment of the largest property, a 14.4-acre lot at 6007 Telegraph Road, put the market rate at between $156,000 and $282,000 a month.

Cisneros secretly pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge on Nov. 6, 2023, weeks before the Commerce City Council agreed to pay him $214,000 to resign. As part of a severance agreement, he received around $400,000 in extra pay.

City officials had been frustrated with the controversies surrounding the city manager and were seemingly unaware of the federal charges. The guilty plea didn’t become public until this month.

In a statement published this month in response to questions from the newspaper, city officials stated they would review the severance agreement and are “exploring all options to recover funds or damages resulting from any wrongdoing.”

Cisneros told the FBI he had met with a Los Angeles-based consultant, identified as “Person 25,” in 2021 and asked the person to “find a company to clean up and remove debris” from 6007 Telegraph in exchange for a “no-bid lease” until Commerce sold the land, according to the plea agreement, unsealed Dec. 5.

The consultant then had to hire and pay $10,000 per month to another individual, identified as “Person 26,” according to the agreement.

“After each payment, Person 26 would go to defendant’s home and give most of the money to defendant,” the plea agreement states. “In total, defendant estimates that Person 26 received approximately $100,000 to $120,000 from Person 25, the vast majority of which was provided to defendant.”

Under the terms, Cisneros is required to cooperate with the FBI’s ongoing investigation into a cannabis bribery scheme spanning across Southern California. It’s not clear whether he faces prison time for the Commerce parking lot kickback scheme.

Cisneros admitted to taking $25,000 meant to influence Commerce’s own selection of cannabis companies in 2018 and to separately helping to funnel $45,000 in bribes to former Baldwin Park Councilman Ricardo Pacheco.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed this month that Baldwin Park’s former City Attorney Robert Tafoya, and Commerce’s former city manager secretly pleaded guilty a year ago to charges stemming from the cannabis bribery scheme that has resulted in the arrests of nearly a half-dozen Southern California public officials.

As part of the deal, Tafoya also pleaded guilty to evading payment of approximately $650,000 in federal taxes.

A Southern California News Group investigation published in December 2022 first detailed the low rents offered by Cisneros. At the time, real estate experts estimated each acre at 6007 and 6241 East Telegraph Road could have brought in $30,000 to $50,000 per month due to the massive demand for truck parking during the pandemic.

The industrial city in southeast Los Angeles County rented the city-owned land for pennies on the dollar to businessman Martin Fierro, without City Council approval or going out to bid, according to the newspaper investigation.

— Dana Bartholomew