Former Portage Mayor James Snyder and his family arrive to Federal Court in Hammond for his sentencing on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune) (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

       The former mayor of Portage has formally appealed his convictions, about two weeks after he was sentenced to nearly two years in prison and one year supervised release for his crimes.

       On Oct. 13, James Snyder was sentenced to 21 months in prison for soliciting bribes and obstruction. He will have to surrender into custody Jan. 5. He was convicted in February 2019 of using a shell company to hide income assets from the IRS while owing back personal and business taxes, but never sentenced.

       Snyder, 43, was indicted in November 2016, on the same day former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich was indicted on a charge of accepting bribes in a towing scheme. Buncich, 75, has been in prison in Springfield, Missouri, since early 2018, serving a 15-year sentence.

       In February 2019, a jury convicted Snyder 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 assets from the IRS while owing back personal and business taxes. The jury acquitted Snyder on a third count that alleged he took a $12,000 bribe to get a company on Portage’s tow list.

       On Nov. 27, 2019, Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen granted a new trial on the soliciting bribes charge. The retrial was heard by Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, from the Northern District of Illinois, who is the third judge to review the case.

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       In March, after a two-week retrial, a federal court jury found Snyder guilty of soliciting bribes. Snyder’s sentencing was moved to October in August after Snyder hired Chicago attorney Andrea Gambino — who represented ex-Calumet Township employee Ethel Shelton — to replace Jackie M. Bennett Jr., Vivek R. Hadley and Jayna M. Cacioppo, of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.

       Snyder’s appeal states it is “a direct appeal from guilty verdicts” in the case, after “two different juries each found Mr. Snyder guilty,” according to court records. As part of the appeal, Gambino included a picture of each case docket, which spans 570 records.

       “Mr. Snyder appeals from the jury’s guilty verdicts in this case,” according to the appeal.

       Gambino did not return requests for comment.

       During his sentencing, prosecutors stated that Snyder should be sentenced “within the applicable guideline range,” which is 46 to 57 months. Gambino requested probation.

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       Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said bribery undermines the public’s trust in government, and “normalizes the idea that leaders can circumvent the law.” A prison sentence provides a “counter message” to those who “break the law and think they can get away with it.”

       Throughout the investigation, Bhachu said, Snyder lied to law enforcement, coordinated statements with other witnesses and “effectively tried to limit the truth finding process.”

       “This is a defendant who had many opportunities in life,” Bhachu said. “But he was a defendant who had those opportunities, had that job, and he knew better.”

       Bhachu said that Snyder “keeps behaving, unfortunately, as if he did nothing wrong.”

       Gambino said prison has negative impacts on a person and that prison shouldn’t be considered the first option for punishment. Snyder has gone through seven years of punishment, Gambino said, including the investigation time, which is “a long time to be under the cloud of stress and pressure.”

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       “There’s the shame to this,” Gambino said. “A felony conviction is permanent and barring court action, follows someone for the rest of their life.”

       Gambino said that Snyder has remorse, but has been “maintaining his innocence.”

       At his recent sentencing, Snyder faced the judge, occasionally turning to the audience in the courtroom and thanked his family, friends, church members, staff and lawyers for their support.

       His sentencing hearing was held on a Wednesday, which was garbage day in his neighborhood, Snyder said. He said he realized that every time he sees a garbage truck he “won’t be able to forget about this.”

       “Your honor, I should’ve been better. I had not only an obligation to be better to my family but to my constituents,” Snyder said. “Everyone knows the deep remorse I feel.”

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