Former Compton Deputy Treasurer Salvador Galvan has been sentenced to six years, six months in federal prison for his part in stealing more than $3.7 million in city funds. His wife, Rosa Maria Galvan, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was ordered to perform 800 hours of community service and serve one year of home confinement.
Galvan, 47, admitted guilt in July to one federal count of theft from an organization receiving federal funds in a plea deal.
Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of more than three years and 10 months, but he was given almost twice that amount of time behind bars at today’s sentencing, which also includes an agreed-upon restitution of $3.72 million.
The maximum prison sentence could have been as much as 10 years. As part of the agreement, Rosa Galvan agreed to hand over the keys to a 2013 Nissan Frontier and a 2012 Honda Pilot to the government.
Rosa Galvan received “hundreds of thousands of dollars in either cash” or money orders from her husband, according to her plea deal. She used some of the money to pay $14,000 in cash for the Honda on Oct. 14, 2015, at an Irvine dealer.
Court documents show her making cash deposits of $211,044 into her account from February 2012 through August of last year.
Both are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3 by U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton in Santa Ana.
According to the charging document, Salvador Galvan skimmed cash from City Hall over a six-year period, taking anywhere from $200 to $8,000 a day.
The losses were small enough that they didn’t trigger alarm, but fellow employees said they wondered how Galvan could afford a new Audi and other expenses on a $60,000 salary, according to court papers.
Galvan, who worked in the Compton Treasurer’s Office for more than 20 years, was responsible for tallying the cash received by the city as payment for parking tickets, business licenses and other fees. After the cash was counted, Galvan prepared the money for deposit into a city bank account, according to court documents.
The FBI interviewed Galvan’s supervisor, who “reflected about Galvan’s time in the office, his unexplained affluence and his generosity,” according to an affidavit.
The supervisor told investigators that Galvan went from driving an “old Toyota” to increasingly luxurious vehicles, including the black Audi sedan.
The affidavit also states that Galvan told his supervisor that he purchased a residence in La Mirada and demolished the house so he could rebuild it.
Galvan was arrested late last year.
