Judge refuses guilty plea from former UC Davis veterinarian accused of tax evasion

In a bizarre twist, a prominent equine veterinarian and former UC Davis professor who oversaw treatment of horses at the 2008 Beijing Olympics tried to plead guilty Monday to a single count of tax evasion, but the judge refused to accept the plea deal.

Dr. Jack Ray Snyder, 63, had been expected to accept a plea agreement following his 2018 indictment on eight counts of tax evasion and filing false tax returns, a plea that could have sent him to federal prison for up to five years.

But Snyder began balking at the description of his alleged actions and appeared to try blaming an assistant for mishandling some of his finances.

“The problem with my business and what I do, I’m on the airplane most of the time,” Snyder said. “I fly 3 to 4 million miles a year and especially during that time I was not managing my checks.”

Instead, Snyder said, he had an assistant handling his checks and “the story basically is I kept telling her to stop spending so much money.”

Snyder, appearing virtually from a barn in Florida because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was accused of reporting only $299,279 in income in 2011 when prosecutors say he actually earned $236,000 more than that.

Snyder’s comments prompted Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb to temporarily halt the hearing, telling Snyder he needed to speak privately with his attorney, James Lassart, about the plea agreement.

“The court is reluctant to take a plea of guilty from someone who tells me he is not guilty of the charge,” Shubb said.

After the two men spoke privately, the court hearing resumed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Yang saying Snyder misled UC Davis officials by certifying he had no outside income in 2011 and was being paid only his salary of $83,000 at the time.

Yang also said evidence showed Snyder used $61,482 in checks from outside income to pay American Express bills and another $36,340 to pay Bank of America bills.

“He would sign over checks directly to credit card companies to pay for his credit cards so that the checks did not hit his bank account first,” Yang said.

Yang also rejected the notion that Snyder’s assistant had anything to do with Snyder’s finances.

“She has no background in accounting, she has no background in taxes,” Yang said.

UC Davis sued Snyder in 2014 in Yolo County Superior Court over his alleged acceptance of outside income without reporting it. Snyder has denied wrongdoing and the suit is pending.

Change of plea hearings typically occur after a defendant has read and signed a written plea agreement with prosecutors that explain the details of the offense, but Snyder continued trying to explain what he considered discrepancies in the government’s case and Shubb abruptly halted the session.

“I will not accept a guilty plea from an innocent man,” Shubb said. “I will not send an innocent man to prison.

“If you plead guilty you could go to prison for five years. I will not be a party to that.”

“I’m ready to take the plea,” Snyder interjected, but Shubb was having none of it.

“You’re not going to plead guilty before me,” the judge said.

The judge said the only time he previously had refused to accept a guilty plea he was overturned by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Yang told the judge he understood his hesitation to accept Snyder’s plea.

“I will defend the refusal to take a plea,” he said.

Instead, Shubb ordered a new hearing for Aug. 24 to determine the next steps in the case.

The original indictment accused Snyder of three counts of tax evasion and five counts of filing false tax returns.

This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 11:29 AM.