Veterinarian residing in Truckee pleads guilty to tax evasion

A world-renown veterinarian living in Truckee leaded guilty today to one count of tax evasion.

Jack Ray Snyder, 63, was indicted in 2018 after it was alleged he failed to report significant income and filed false tax returns between 2012 and 2014. Besides the income discrepancy, Snyder was charged with deducting non-deductible personal expenses and overreporting his property taxes.

During these years Snyder was the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis's Center for Equine Health and was known around the world as a prominent equine surgeon. In 2014 the university sued the former professor for making more than $1 million in outside income while working for the school. The university claimed the money should have gone to them, and that Snyder went to great lengths to hide it.

In 2008, Snyder was the veterinarian for the Beijing Olympics.

According to the plea agreement, Snyder failed to report significant income for tax years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Each year, Snyder underreported his income to his tax preparer and took deductions for expenses that were not deductible business expenses. For the 2011 tax year, Snyder earned outside income as an equine veterinarian in addition to his salary as a professor at the University of California, Davis. He endorsed outside client payment checks to directly pay credit card bills. He failed to report $212,953 in income for the 2011 tax year. According to the plea agreement, the additional tax due for 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 tax years was $134,497.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Yang is prosecuting the case.

Snyder is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on Nov. 16. Snyder faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.