Truckee man charged with tax evasion and filing false tax returns

A world-renown veterinarian living in Truckee, California is facing tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

A federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment today against Jack Ray Snyder, 61, alleging he failed to report significant income and filed false tax returns between 2012 and 2014. Besides the income discrepancy, Snyder is 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.

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.

If convicted, Snyder faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count. Any sentence, however, would 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. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.