Porter County sheriff not investigating allegations on clerk-treasurer
NWI Time
June 29, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/porter-county-sheriff-not-investigating-allegations-on-clerk-treasurer/article_c081ffed-2bf6-5d41-9722-c6904b94b708.html
The Porter County Sheriff's Department is not currently investigating the allegations made earlier this week by the Portage mayor of possible wrongdoing in the city's clerk-treasurer's office.
Cpl. Benjamin McFalls said Friday the sheriff's department was not looking into the allegations made by Portage Mayor John Cannon about Chris Stidham.
He did not say whether his department was asked to look into the matter.
“As we stated in the press release, we turned over the report to the proper authorities,” Cannon said Friday. “That's all the (investigative) committee authorized me to say.”
Earlier this week, Cannon called on Stidham to resign after a bipartisan committee assembled by the mayor's office found “a sufficient likelihood of unlawful conduct” in the clerk-treasurer's office. The findings were laid out in a confidential report shown to some city officials.
Cannon said Tuesday he had contacted other officials and law enforcement about the situation. He did not specify then whom he contacted besides Council President Sue Lynch.
Stidham said the investigation stemmed from his wife working for the clerk-treasurer's office prior to her marriage to Stidham.
The situation was brought up during the trial of former Mayor James Snyder, who was convicted on bribery and tax evasion earlier this year. Stidham testified during the trial, and his wife's former employment was brought up during cross-examination.
Cannon on Friday called for an ordinance requiring two-signatures on all checks issued by the city.
According to a news release from the mayor's office, the measure stems from three transactions the confidential report said were unapproved by the board of works and signed by Stidham's wife.
Cannon said there were 19 checks signed by her between 2015 and 2016 for Keeping the Books, Paramount Technology Solutions and ERG Advisors, which were worth a total of $70,000.
The release states there had been no evidence presented to the mayor's investigation committee that the the transactions were ever approved by the Portage Board of Works and that one committee member, who was a board member, had no recollection of them either.
Treasurer Stidham fights back in Portage: ‘I’ve been defamed’
Chicago Tribune
June 28, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-portage-clerk-mayor-st-0630-20190628-7j3b55ihy5e67n66krolkp5t64-story.html
The blooming battle between Portage Mayor John Cannon and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham over Stidham’s hiring of his then-girlfriend to work as a contractor took a new twist Friday, as Cannon said checks made out to her businesses never cleared the board of works as required by state law.
In response, Stidham called the mayor’s actions “defamatory,” adding the checks, along with others from the city, didn’t come before the board because of a procedural matter.
The call and response came Friday, the day after Cannon announced he had formed a three-person executive committee to investigate Stidham. Cannon has called for Stidham, who’s term ends in December, to resign.
“He may not like the vendor that I selected. He may not like that we were in a relationship. He may not like that we got married, but at the end of the day, that’s not his job as mayor,” Stidham said.
The committee, Cannon said, found almost $70,000 in unapproved transactions from the clerk-treasurer’s office paid to three entities, Keeping the Books, ERG Advisors and Paramount Technology Solutions.
The board of works is expected to seek repayment of the invoices from those vendors at a meeting Wednesday because the transactions were not approved, Cannon said, adding the State Board of Accounts will meet with the committee about their findings Monday. Cannon has said two Democrats and a Republican, representing, in no particular order, the city council, the board of works and a department head, make up the committee. Cannon has declined to name them.
According to documents available on the Indiana Secretary of State’s office website, Keeping the Books and ERG Advisors both list Rachel Glass as owner. They had separate addresses on Valparaiso’s north side for four months each in 2015, with some overlap on when they were active.
Stidham confirmed that Glass, now Rachel Stidham, was his girlfriend at the time. The state did not have a listing for Paramount Technology Solutions.
“I believe that one was simply an assumed name registered through the county,” he said, adding not all of her businesses were registered through the state.
The invoices, he said, totaled somewhere around $50,000, not as much as suggested by Cannon, and covered a span of a year to 18 months.
Of the invoices, Cannon said some of the checks were sent to the Valparaiso addresses and the rest were sent to UPS stores in Merrillville and Valparaiso. He declined to say how many checks there were.
“There was no record of this. No one knew this money was coming out,” Cannon said, adding that state law requires the city’s board of works to approve all transactions, including contracts with vendors and those for the clerk-treasurer’s office.
Despite repeated requests since April, Cannon said, Stidham has yet to provide proof that the board of works approved the claims or the contracts for the work. Stidham has said he did not receive those requests until Tuesday, and they were similar to ones he fulfilled in the spring.
“The day before the wedding (between Stidham and Glass), there was a $6,000 check written to one of these companies,” Cannon said.
Stidham didn’t specifically know about the check before his wedding.
“I don’t dispute it but it would make sense,” he said, adding once he married, he and his wife would have been in violation of nepotism rules so final payments were likely being wrapped up before that date. He has said his wife has not worked in his office since they were married.
The lack of approval by the board of works, Stidham said, was procedural because of how claims were docketed for the board, something that he’s changed in recent months.
The docket of claims could shift dramatically and typically wasn’t a full accounting of all the claims paid out. “It’s a gross mischaracterization” for Cannon to pull a handful of claims and say they are outside of the normal process since it happens all the time, Stidham said.
“It’s defamatory, frankly, and that’s going to be the next step of all this,” he said. “I’ve been defamed.”
Stidham, who, with two other candidates lost the Democratic primary bid for the mayor’s seat to Council President Sue Lynch, D-At large, has called Cannon’s claims political, and said he was “lockstep” with former Mayor James Snyder, forced from office in mid-February and awaiting sentencing after a federal jury convicted him on two public corruption charges. Cannon will face Lynch on the November ballot.
Cannon said he will ask the city attorney to draft an ordinance requiring two signatures on any city-issued check. Though he didn’t have time to get the matter on the agenda for a vote during Tuesday’s city council meeting, he does expect it to come up for discussion.
Stidham said he doesn’t individually sign each check anyway and uses a stamp.
“If the staff has to stamp two different signatures, it makes no difference,” he said.
Cannon has not discussed the proposed ordinance with Lynch yet.
“I don’t see a huge problem with it, but it’s got to come before the council and I have to see what the verbiage is,” she said, adding the ordinance doesn’t sound like it’s targeting the clerk-treasurer’s office. “It’s just something a lot of places do.”
Councilman Bill Fekete, R-4th, who took Cannon’s seat after a caucus selected Cannon to replace Snyder and is the lone Republican on the council, said he didn’t know what the content of the ordinance would be.
“I have to say, there has to be steps taken to assure citizens that funds are not being misused,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe all the facts have come out yet.”
UPDATE: Portage mayor calls for clerk-treasurer to resign
NWI Times
June 26, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/update-portage-mayor-calls-for-clerk-treasurer-to-resign/article_3a2b1cc1-fd79-56e0-8434-f6a39aaa0f0b.html
PORTAGE — Mayor John Cannon is calling for the resignation of Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham after the clerk failed to cooperate in an internal investigation into possible wrongdoing in that office.
In April, Cannon appointed a bipartisan executive investigative committee to look into potential malfeasance in Stidham's office. Cannon said he would not name the committee members out of respect for their privacy, but said it consisted of two Democrats and a Republican representing a city council member, a board of works member and a department head.
Cannon said the information was brought to his attention in March and he immediately wanted to investigate. The committee gave him a preliminary report in May and asked for more time to finish a final report.
Cannon said he could not get into specifics.
“I'm not allowed to talk about intertwinings of the report at this point,” he said. “It's confidential at this point.”
Stidham said it stemmed from his wife working for the clerk's office prior to her marriage to Stidham.
“It's an issue regarding work done for my office four years ago,” he said. “He's trying to make it something salacious because the individual doing the work, well, we had a relationship.”
According to Stidham, she quit working for his office shortly before they were married in 2016 so they wouldn't violate a law forbidding relatives from working for elected officials.
The situation was brought up during the trial of former Mayor James Snyder, who was convicted on bribery and tax evasion earlier this year. Stidham testified during the trial and his wife's former employment was brought up during cross-examination.
"It was slander when it was in court and it is slander now," he said.
In the course of Cannon's investigation, the committee sent the Portage Clerk-Treasurer's office a request for public documents.
The committee said Stidham did not respond to the request.
“At the end of the day, I am an independently elected official. I manage my office independent of the mayor,” Stidham said. “He has no oversight. He doesn't get to decide the people I hire or the work that I get done. That's left to my good judgment.”
Because it did not have the authority to issue subpoenas compelling a response, the committee told Cannon it could not affirmatively conclude violations of law. However, the committee said it predicted a "sufficient likelihood" of unlawful conduct, warranting further investigation by law enforcement and other officials.
Mayor calls for clerk-treasurer’s resignation in Portage after committee investigation
Post-Tribune
June 26, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-portage-mayor-complaint-st-0627-20190626-eylxreaedffhfaux5qdc62j4y4-story.html
Portage Mayor John Cannon is asking for Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham to resign in light of a committee’s findings that “predicted a ‘sufficient likelihood’ of unlawful conduct warranting further investigation by law enforcement and other officials.”
Stidham called the investigation a political attack based on testimony he gave during the federal trial of former Mayor James Snyder, who was convicted in February and awaits sentencing on two counts of public corruption.
“There’s no reason to resign. It’s just an attack to make something look salacious that’s not salacious at all,” Stidham said, adding he will fulfill the rest of his term, which ends this year.
Cannon said in a release Wednesday afternoon that in April, he appointed a bipartisan executive investigative committee to investigate allegations of possible wrongdoing in the clerk-treasurer’s office.
A confidential final report was issued Tuesday to Cannon detailing allegations and findings by the committee, Cannon said, adding the committee sent the clerk-treasurer’s office a request for public documents that did not receive a response.
“Having received no response to the public records request and lacking the authority to issue subpoenas compelling a response, the committee could not affirmatively conclude violations of law sufficient to satisfy the legal standard,” Cannon said.
Cannon said he requested a meeting with Stidham at 11 a.m. Wednesday to discuss the findings without a response from Stidham.
In response to the report and what Cannon called Stidham’s “failure to meet to discuss the findings,” Cannon called for his immediate resignation “and notified the proper law enforcement and other officials regarding the conduct in question.”
Cannon called for a special meeting of the Portage Board of Works at 9:30 a.m. July 3 at City Hall to demand the repayment of unapproved payments made by the clerk-treasurer’s office.
Stidham’s testimony during Snyder’s trial prompted a conversation between some board of works and city council members as well as others, Cannon said, who asked him to look into the matter. He eventually appointed the committee to do so.
Stidham dismissed the investigation as political.
“This is all the regurgitation of a slam against me that the former mayor brought up in his trial in trying to save himself,” Stidham said.
During Snyder’s trial, Stidham testified he hired his then-girlfriend, who later became his wife, to work in the clerk-treasurer’s office as a contractor. Her work, he said, took place around four years ago and included reconciliation of bank statements and database work.
“We were obviously in a relationship so it doesn’t always appear the greatest. We were married and it was done,” he said, adding she hasn’t worked in his office since then.
Reached by phone, Cannon declined to say which law enforcement agencies and officials might be involved because the matter could become an ongoing investigation.
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The focus of the board of works meeting will be on what Cannon called “unapproved payments” made by the clerk-treasurer’s office to Keeping the Books, ERG Advisors and Paramount Technology Solutions. The companies will be notified by certified letter to return the payments, he said. Cannon declined to specify the invoice amounts.
“I’m here to get the money back. My job is to look out for the taxpayers and that’s what we’re doing,” he said, adding it will be up to law enforcement to handle that end of the investigation.
The bipartisan committee that conducted the investigation included a member of the board of works, a city council member and a department head, Canon said, declining to say who they were but noting the makeup included two Democrats and one Republican.
“It was not a political situation whatsoever,” he said.
Cannon, Stidham said, “works lockstep with the former mayor,” adding since Cannon is running for mayor during this year’s municipal election, he wants to distance himself from the former administration.
Stidham said Cannon didn’t mention the investigation during a Tuesday board of works meeting and asked for a special meeting July 3 to open bids for police cars, which Stidham agreed to.
He said he received an email from Cannon around 4 p.m. Tuesday asking to meet Wednesday morning and requesting documents from his office, and notifying Stidham that he would be putting out a release to the media.
“I didn’t have a chance to respond,” Stidham said, adding his office is responding to the document request, which includes canceled invoices and is similar to information he provided as requested in March or April.
Stidham called the investigation an attempt by Cannon to control an office he doesn’t have control over, adding the clerk-treasurer’s office is independent and has its own budget.
“He doesn’t have the authority to approve the people I hire or the work that I have done,” Stidham said.
City Council President Sue Lynch, D-At large, who will face Cannon in the general election for the mayor’s seat, said she was allowed to review the committee’s report for 10 or 15 minutes Wednesday morning but was not allowed to keep a copy, so she declined to comment on the report itself.
“No city council people have a copy of this report, either,” she said, adding she “heard rumblings” about the investigation but wasn’t directly involved with it.
The State Board of Accounts and law enforcement officials are the best choices to investigate, Lynch added.
“Those are the people who need to have eyes on that, not the council,” she said.
Assessor Jon Snyder gets probation after pleading to misdemeanor tax charge
Chesterton Tribune
June 10, 2019
http://www.chestertontribune.com/PoliceFireEmergency/assessor_jon_snyder_gets_probati.htm
Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder has been sentenced to 12 months’ probation, after pleading guilty in federal court to a single misdemeanor count of failure to supply information to the Internal Revenue Service, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Snyder was sentenced last week to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $25 assessment. His sentence included no fine and no restitution.
The misdemeanor charge was unrelated to Snyder’s government service as Porter County Assessor but instead concerned his activities as the owner of a private business, Shoreline Appraisals Inc. of Portage.
According to the indictment, Snyder was required to provide the IRS, by Feb. 28, 2014, an “Informational Return 1099 Form,” which documents all payments in excess of $600 for any services rendered by a non-employee in calendar year 2013.
That form is supposed to contain the name of the non-employee, his or her address, and the total dollar amount of payments made by the business to the non-employee.
In fact, the indictment stated, in 2013 Shore Appraisals paid more than $5,000 to a non-employee, identified only as “Person A,” but Snyder “willfully” failed to provide the IRS with the requisite Informational Return 1099 by Feb. 28, 2014.
As part of his plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office recommended a sentence “equal to the minimum of the applicable guideline range,” and stipulated that “for tax years 2008-13 no further criminal tax charges are warranted.”
In exchange--according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on June 3--“Jon Snyder agreed to cooperate and testify” in the trial of his brother, former Portage Mayor Jim Snyder, who was convicted earlier this year on one count of bribery involving bids for city garbage trucks and one count of federal tax obstruction. Jim Snyder was acquitted on a second bribery count alleging a pay-for-tow scheme.
The sentencing memorandum cites Jon Snyder’s “cooperation including not only making recordings . . . relating to bribery allegations” but also his “testifying in the trial of James Snyder. In addition, Jon Snyder also provided helpful information in other criminal investigations.”
Jon Snyder, shunned by some, says he accepts the 'lows' life has given him
NWI Times
June 06, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/porter-newsletter/jon-snyder-shunned-by-some-says-he-accepts-the-lows/article_4e5daa52-ca13-5e4c-bcc5-9c010da0708f.html
HAMMOND — Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder was virtually alone this week when it came time to face judgment for a federal income tax violation.
No friends or family were in U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John E. Martin's courtroom Tuesday when Snyder was ordered to serve a one-year term of probation.
There are usually letters of support written by others on behalf of men convicted of some of the most heinous crimes. There is no record of such letters in Snyder’s case.
He and the attorneys told the court Tuesday that he and some relatives aren't communicating since he helped federal prosecutors convict his brother, James Snyder, former Portage mayor, in a bribery scandal.
Jon Snyder said, “I have few friends I can talk to. ... People think I’m recording them,” said Snyder, who wore a wire — a covert listening device — during conversations with James Snyder.
However, Jon Snyder, said he doesn’t regret informing on his brother. “I wanted the truth out.”
He said he accepts the "lows" that life has given him and is prepared to carry on his mission as a public office, a private businessman, a husband and a father of 10 children.
"I never betrayed that and I never will," he said.
Matt Dogan, an attorney for James Snyder, issued a statement Wednesday evening saying the family was unaware of Jon Snyder’s sentencing date and are grateful he was spared a prison term.
Dogan said the family believes the government forced Jon to wear a wire and testify against James. Both Jon Snyder and Benson denied Tuesday there was any coercion,
Dogan said James was acquitted of the bribery allegations that involved Jon’s role in the investigation against James. “All of the work Jon did against James was for nought,” Dogan said.
Dogan said the family hopes the convictions against James will be overturned on appeal “and the Snyders can look forward to putting their family back together.”
Jon Snyder pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to a misdemeanor count of failing to file a tax form with the IRS that he paid several thousands in 2013 to an independent contractor in connection with Jon Snyder’s private business, Shoreline Appraisals of Portage.
Defense attorney Matthew Fech said the violation was an oversight by Snyder. Snyder said his tax returns have been filed timely and accurately since he handed the job over to a specialist.
Both Fech and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson said the tax violation was unconnected to Snyder’s official duties as county assessor.
Fech and Benson stood in as Snyder’s sole champions at Tuesday’s sentencing.
“I know that was a difficult decision," Benson said. "He has paid a high price for his cooperation, but he has tried to do the right thing without regard to his relationship of other family members."
Fech said he has come to consider Snyder a friend in the two years since he was hired to defend Snyder over the tax violation.
Benson said many relatives were in the court gallery earlier this year when Jon Snyder appeared at his brother’s trial. Jon Snyder was subjected to hostile cross-examination by one of his brother’s legal team.
Benson said, in fact, Jon Snyder agree to secretly tape his brother to give his brother a chance to exonerate himself.”
Instead, a federal jury convicted James Snyder on Feb. 14 of accepting a $13,000 bribe from former Great Lakes Peterbilt owners Bob and Steve Buha in exchange for some $1.25 million in garbage truck bids. They also found him guilty of a tax obstruction charge in which he was accused of creating a sham company to hide money from the IRS.
James Snyder has asked a judge to overturn his convictions. He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 24.
Jon Snyder, 42, had no prior criminal history. He has been the Porter County assessor since his first election in 2010.
Voters re-elected an unopposed Jon Snyder last year to a new four-year term, a week after his guilty plea.
Porter County official given probation for failing to supply information to IRS
Chicago Tribune
Jun 4, 2019
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-jon-snyder-sentencing-st-0605-story.html
The Porter County assessor will be on probation for failing to supply tax information for his private appraisal business.
Judge John Martin on Tuesday sentenced Jon Snyder, 42, to a year of probation after he pleaded guilty last year for failing to supply information to the IRS, a misdemeanor charge related to his personal business.
“I’m deeply sorry for what’s happened,” Snyder said.
Snyder said for the last four or five years, his taxes have been accurately filed and he’s taken steps to see that his business’ finances are in order.
“It was my mistake. It was my fault,” Snyder said. “I plan to continue on the right path.”
Snyder, as owner of Shoreline Appraisals Inc., allegedly failed to give the IRS an “Informational Return 1099 Form, which is a requirement for non-employees who received more than $600 in payments during a calendar year, according to court documents.
Snyder and Shoreline Appraisals allegedly failed to file the document for “Person A,” who was paid more than $5,000 in 2013, according to court documents.
“Clearly, this was an oversight for which he accepts full responsibility for,” said defense attorney Matthew Fech.
Pleading guilty to a misdemeanor would not require Snyder to resign from office, according to state law.
As part of the plea agreement, Snyder agreed to testify against his brother, former Portage Mayor James Snyder in his public corruption trial. James Snyder was convicted and gave up his office, but has not yet been sentenced.
“Through that whole time, I’ve always been truthful,” Snyder said. “I wanted the truth to come out and that’s why I cooperated, your honor.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Benson said Jon Snyder’s decision to cooperate with the government was difficult and it was not forced on him. Benson said he’s seen criminal prosecutions where a person will not cooperate against another family member.
“He’s paid a high price for his cooperation,” Benson said. “The defendant has stood tall and always tried to do the right thing since the government became involved with him.”
Benson said he’d agree that a sentence of a term of probation is appropriate.
In February, a federal jury found James Snyder of bribery and obstructing the IRS, bringing an end to his 19-day trial. Snyder was convicted of taking a $13,000 bribe in exchange for contracts to sell five garbage trucks to the city, and using a shell company to hide income and assets from the IRS while owning back personal and business taxes.
Snyder brother who wore wire spared from prison
NWI Times
Jun 4, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/snyder-brother-who-wore-wire-spared-from-prison/article_bc1f1ee1-b91c-5fbe-a859-2983912e162b.html
HAMMOND — Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder, who helped feds nab his brother — former Portage Mayor James Snyder — was given probation over a federal tax violation.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Martin granted Snyder’s request Tuesday to spare him prison time.
Jon Snyder will remain free to continue in office as county assessor as well as run his private assessment business under a one-year term of probation.
Jon Snyder pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to a misdemeanor count of failing to file an IRS tax form for the $6,000 he paid in 2013 to an independent contractor in connection with his private business, Shoreline Appraisals of Portage.
Jon Snyder, 42, a husband and father of 10 children, had no prior criminal history. He has been the Porter County assessor since his first election in 2010.
Voters reelected an unopposed Jon Snyder last year to a new four-year term, a week after his guilty plea.
His defense attorney, Matthew Fech, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson both recommended the judge grant Jon Snyder leniency under the terms of a plea agreement.
They said he readily admitted his wrongdoing and cooperated with federal investigators since 2012 following probes into his financial doings and an investigation into his county office over allegations someone in the office was fixing assessment appeals.
Jon Snyder also informed on his brother and testified against him during a 19-day trial earlier this year.
A federal jury convicted James Snyder on Feb. 14 of accepting a $13,000 bribe from former Great Lakes Peterbilt owners Bob and Steve Buha in exchange for $1.25 million in garbage truck bids. They also found James Snyder guilty of a tax obstruction charge in which he was accused of creating a sham company to hide money from the IRS.
Jurors acquitted James Snyder of a third charge, alleging he accepted a $12,000 bribe from former co-defendant John Cortina and Samson Towing owner Scott Jurgensen, also an undercover FBI informant, to put the duo on the city's tow list.
The federal prosecutor said Jon Snyder’s cooperation with the government included wearing a wire and made numerous recordings of Cortina and James Snyder.
James Snyder maintains the money paid to him was legitimate campaign contributions. He has asked a judge to overturn his convictions.
Cortina pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to paying a bribe to the former Portage mayor. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1.
James Snyder is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 24.
Snyder brother who wore wire spared from prison
Newsbug.info
Jun 4, 2019
http://www.newsbug.info/news/national/indiana/snyder-brother-who-wore-wire-spared-from-prison/article_9cb187ac-e039-5c04-9f0d-6415a47371ac.html
HAMMOND — Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder, who helped feds nab his brother — former Portage Mayor James Snyder — was given probation over a federal tax violation.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Martin granted Snyder’s request Tuesday to spare him prison time.
Jon Snyder will remain free to continue in office as county assessor as well as run his private assessment business under a one-year term of probation.
Jon Snyder pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to a misdemeanor count of failing to file an IRS tax form for the $6,000 he paid in 2013 to an independent contractor in connection with his private business, Shoreline Appraisals of Portage.
Jon Snyder, 42, a husband and father of 10 children, had no prior criminal history. He has been the Porter County assessor since his first election in 2010.
Voters reelected an unopposed Jon Snyder last year to a new four-year term, a week after his guilty plea.
His defense attorney, Matthew Fech, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson both recommended the judge grant Jon Snyder leniency under the terms of a plea agreement.
They said he readily admitted his wrongdoing and cooperated with federal investigators since 2012 following probes into his financial doings and an investigation into his county office over allegations someone in the office was fixing assessment appeals.
Jon Snyder also informed on his brother and testified against him during a 19-day trial earlier this year.
A federal jury convicted James Snyder on Feb. 14 of accepting a $13,000 bribe from former Great Lakes Peterbilt owners Bob and Steve Buha in exchange for $1.25 million in garbage truck bids. They also found James Snyder guilty of a tax obstruction charge in which he was accused of creating a sham company to hide money from the IRS.
Jurors acquitted James Snyder of a third charge, alleging he accepted a $12,000 bribe from former co-defendant John Cortina and Samson Towing owner Scott Jurgensen, also an undercover FBI informant, to put the duo on the city's tow list.
The federal prosecutor said Jon Snyder’s cooperation with the government included wearing a wire and made numerous recordings of Cortina and James Snyder.
James Snyder maintains the money paid to him was legitimate campaign contributions. He has asked a judge to overturn his convictions.
Cortina pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to paying a bribe to the former Portage mayor. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1.
James Snyder is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 24.
