02132019 - News Article - No verdict yet in Portage Mayor James Snyder's public corruption trial

No verdict yet in Portage Mayor James Snyder's public corruption trial
NWI Times
February 13, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/no-verdict-yet-in-portage-mayor-james-snyder-s-public/article_aceae5d7-d283-51cd-9836-ed88c4ca4638.html

HAMMOND — Jurors in Portage Mayor James Snyder's public corruption case deliberated for nearly six hours Wednesday before being sent home for the night.

Jury deliberations will continue at 9 a.m. Thursday in what will be the 19th day of the trial.

Snyder was indicted in November 2016 on three charges. His trial began Jan. 14.

The first count against Snyder alleges he solicited two bank checks, for $10,000 and $2,000, from former co-defendant Cortina to put Cortina and his business partner, Scott Jurgensen, owner of Samson Towing, on the city's towing list.

Snyder claimed $2,000 was a campaign donation, and $10,000 came from Cortina as loans to pay Snyder's attorney bills. 

In transcripts of undercover recordings, Cortina refers to the money as "juice money" he paid Snyder in an effort to get on the city's towing list. During his plea hearing Friday, Cortina told the court he perceived the money to be a bribe.

Cortina, who took the Fifth Amendment and did not testify during Snyder's trial, pleaded guilty last month to paying the bribe.

The second count against Snyder alleged he accepted $13,000 from a Portage company in exchange for favorable contracts with the city. Snyder was alleged to have solicited the $13,000 from Great Lakes Peterbilt days after the company received contracts worth more than $1.25 million for garbage trucks.

The third count against Snyder involves his private business operations with a mortgage company he previously managed. The count alleges, among other things, that Snyder, who managed the company, collected but failed to pay to the federal government employee payroll taxes. The alleged behavior dates back to 2005. He was also accused of obstructing the IRS from collection some $30,000 in back personal income taxes.

Prosecutors said Snyder created a company through which he funneled money to hide it from the IRS and failed to file appropriate tax forms.