Undercover FBI Agent Exposes Public Corruption Among City Officials

According to a Department of Justice press release dated May 5, 2021, two former city officials in Calexico, California were sentenced to two years in prison for accepting bribes in return for a city permit to open a cannabis dispensary. The defendants were caught by an undercover FBI agent.

Former City Councilman David Romero, 37, and Bruno Suarez-Soto, 29, a former city commissioner, accepted $35,000 from an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a cannabis dispensary investor. They promised to expedite the investor’s issuance of a city permit even if it meant hindering other applicants along the way. Both men acknowledged that they had accepted bribes in the past and one said to the undercover agent, “This isn’t our first rodeo.”

According to the plea agreements, the bribes were paid to the two men in two installments of $17,500, with the first installment on January 9, 2020 and the second installment on January 30, 2020. After delivering the fake bribe, the undercover agent asked the two men if “we’re good,” to which Romero replied, “trust me.”

Romero also served as Calexico’s Mayor Pro Tem and was set to become mayor in July 2020. Soto served on the city’s Economic Development and Financial Advisory Commission and resigned from his position. Romero also stepped down from his position in June of 2020 as a part of a plea agreement.

The FBI investigated this case, and both Romero and Soto were ordered to pay $17,500 in addition to their prison sentence.