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A federal judge has sentenced former Portage Mayor James Snyder to three years of probation for hiding income funds from the federal government.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Holly Brady handed down the sentence Tuesday, putting a close to Snyder’s 10-year-old fight with the government. He faced a 33-41 month imprison range, Barnes and Thornburg said.
“We are honored to have delivered a fair outcome for Mr. Snyder, ensuring that justice was served and his rights respected after many years of uncertainty,” Josh Minkler, a partner with Barnes & Thornburg who represented Snyder, said in a press release.
Snyder, who was mayor of Portage from 2011 to 2019, was originally charged in 2016 with two counts of federal funds bribery related to garbage truck contracts and one count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service by using a scheme to hide unfiled and back taxes. Snyder has maintained his innocence ever since.
In 2019, a jury found Snyder guilty of one bribery count and the tax count, but he was acquitted of the other bribery charge.
According to court documents, in 2013, while Snyder was mayor, the city of Portage entered into two contracts with a local truck company, Great Lakes Peterbilt, to purchase garbage trucks for about $1.1 million.
A year later, Peterbilt wrote a $13,000 check to Snyder, which he maintains was for his consulting services as a Peterbilt contractor.
But federal investigators and prosecutors suspected the payment was a gratuity for the garbage truck contracts, so they charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 666, which prohibits governmental officials from engaging in bribery and theft.
The tax charge stemmed from a mortgage company Snyder once managed and back personal income taxes.
In 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana sentenced Snyder to 21 months in prison per count.
He appealed the conviction, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling.
Snyder appealed again, bringing the bribery matter before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2024.
The court determined that the federal law in question, 18 U.S.C. § 666, criminalizes government officials from accepting bribes in exchange for official acts, but it does not penalize officials for accepting gifts for past actions. The Supreme Court did not discuss the tax count.
The case was remanded back to the Seventh Circuit, which concluded the government could pursue a new trial against Snyder on the bribery count.
After it was sent back down to the district court, the prosecution ultimately decided to dismiss the bribery charge and focus on the tax count.
Along with the probation sentence, the court has also ordered Snyder to pay the IRS $78,116.57 in restitution.
The Lawyer reached out to the U.S. attorneys office in Northern District of Illinois but did not receive a response.
In a press release sent by Barnes and Thornburg noting the sentencing, Snyder said he and his family are “eternally grateful to their thoughtful and tireless work in maintaining my freedom while defending my innocence.”
“The Barnes and Thornburg team representing me at sentencing performed a nearly impossible task: defending my innocence, detangling 10 years of procedural history, preserving my appeal and convincing the court that probation was the just and fair sentence. Mr. Minkler, Mr. Brackett and the team were able to accomplish this with a record that included only the prosecution’s slanted version of the case,” Snyder said.
The case is United States of America v. Snyder (2:16-cr-00160-HAB-JEM).
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