03302023 - News Article - Former Portage mayor fights back with lawsuit as he awaits word on pending prison term

 




Former Portage mayor fights back with lawsuit as he awaits word on pending prison term
NWI Times
March 30, 2023
HAMMOND — Former Republican Portage Mayor James Snyder is not sitting quietly as he awaits word from a federal appeals court as to whether he will go to prison for his 2021 bribery and tax violation convictions.

Snyder continues to fight back, this time taking aim at current Democratic Mayor Sue Lynch and city attorney Dan Whitten, accusing each in a federal lawsuit of instructing city employees, including case witness Randall Reeder Jr., not to meet with Snyder and his legal team as they prepared for trial.

"Snyder was made aware of the alleged conduct and instruction during a meeting with former city employees in or around June of 2022 after his second trial," according to the litigation filed on Snyder's behalf by Portage-based attorney Matthew Dogan.

Lynch and Whitten were aware Reeder was a "necessary and the primary witness in the trial of Snyder," the suit says. Reeder was accused by federal officials of "rigging" bids.

Snyder, 45, who has a 21-month prison sentencing hanging over his head, was found guilty twice — most recently in March 2021 — of soliciting and accepting a $13,000 bribe in 2014 in return for steering a $1.125 million contract for the purchase of garbage trucks for the city of Portage to the local Great Lakes Peterbilt company.

Federal prosecutors said he also obstructed the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to collect unpaid taxes on a private mortgage company he ran.

In response Wednesday to the lawsuit, Whitten said, "The allegations are 100% untrue, are without any merit and are completely baseless. I have no further comment as no further comment is warranted."

Snyder, who was granted the right to remain out of prison while appealing his criminal convictions, is awaiting the outcome of a January hearing before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Defense attorney Andréa E. Gambino argued the court should vacate Snyder's convictions, in part, because of what she claims was a government intrusion into the attorney-client relationship as it pertains to the seizure of Snyder's personal and professional email accounts as part of the criminal investigation.

Federal prosecutor Debra Bonamici defended the government's multilayer screening process to combat the alleged intrusion.

Snyder's new litigation claims Reeder "did not know the orders given to him from Lynch through Whitten were illegal or wrongful."

Reeder thus refused to meet with Snyder's legal team ahead of the March 2021 trial, "despite his willingness to do so," the suit says.

In a further attempt to intimidate Reeder, Snyder claims the city of Portage refused to cover Reeder's legal expenses as is "usual, customary, and in the regular course of business for the City of Portage to do when litigation stems from employment status."

Lynch and Whitten obviously did not believe Reeder had rigged bids as they both hired and promoted him from assistant street superintendent to street superintendent after Snyder's conviction, the suit says.

03112023 - News Article - Snyder launches federal lawsuit - Convicted ex-Portage mayor targets Mayor Lynch, City Attorney Whitten

 




Snyder launches federal lawsuit 
Convicted ex-Portage mayor targets Mayor Lynch, City Attorney Whitten
Post-Tribune, The (Merrillville, IN)
March 11, 2023 



Disgraced former Portage Mayor James Snyder, convicted in federal court on charges of public corruption and obstructing the IRS, is going after the city's mayor and attorney, claiming they coached a witness in the corruption case not to meet with Snyder or his legal team.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hammond, names Mayor Sue Lynch and Dan Whitten, the city attorney, and states that on or before March 19, 2021, city employees were instructed not to meet with Snyder or his defense attorneys in preparation for his second criminal trial.

"Mayor Susanne Lynch on her own accord and/or through City Attorney Daniel Whitten gave this instruction to known trial witness Randall Reeder Jr. and others, to intimidate Reeder and other possible witnesses," the lawsuit states.

Lynch declined to comment.

"The claims are 100% untrue and baseless. Beyond that I have no comment," Whitten said.

Lynch promoted Reeder from assistant superintendent of streets and sanitation to superintendent when she took office in January 2020.

During Snyder's first federal trial in 2019, Reeder recanted grand jury testimony implicating Snyder in an alleged scheme to steer a contract for garbage trucks to one company in exchange for a $13,000 payoff.

Reeder said during the trial that he "misspoke" when he testified before a grand jury on two occasions in 2016 and wanted to recant his statements under oath about Snyder's involvement in the purchase of five garbage trucks.

Snyder was convicted on that bribery charge in February 2019, though a jury found him not guilty on a second bribery charge involving tow truck contracts. Snyder, who was granted a second trial on the bribery charge and convicted yet again, has asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to vacate his convictions and grant him a third trial.

In October 2021, Snyder was sentenced to 21 months in prison and one year supervised release for soliciting bribes and obstruction, but the judge ruled that Snyder did not have to report to prison while his appeal was ongoing. Snyder was first indicted in 2016.

Snyder, according to the lawsuit, became aware of the alleged conduct during a meeting with former city employees around June of last year after his second trial.

Lynch and Whitten, according to the suit, "were knowledgeable and aware that Mr. Reeder was a necessary and primary witness in the trial of Mr. Snyder. The United States Attorney accused Mr. Reeder of 'rigging' bids."

Reeder told Snyder about the "order" from Whitten and Lynch during a phone conversation on June 11, 2022, after Snyder's second trial. Neither Snyder nor his counsel had any knowledge of the order conveyed by Lynch and Whitten before then.

"These instructions to Mr. Reeder and/or other City employees were crimes consisting of official misconduct, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice as dictated in both state and federal law," according to court documents.

Snyder asserts that Whitten and Lynch's actions violated his First Amendment right to association; violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process; violated his Sixth Amendment right of compulsory process to obtain witnesses; are obstruction of equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment; amount to criminal mischief; caused intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress; and amount to negligence.

Snyder is asking for a jury trial and financial compensation.

08132023 - News Article - Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case

  Former Portage Mayor James Snyder asks US Supreme Court to consider his case Chicago Tribune  Aug 13, 2023 https://www.chicagotribune.com/...