Police pension ex-chief faces charge
The fired executive director of the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System was charged Tuesday with seven felony counts stemming from allegations he disguised personal vacations as business trips.
The vacations included multiple trips to Dallas for the annual Oklahoma-Texas football game and trips to California and New York, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Steven Keith Snyder, 61, of Edmond, is accused of submitting fraudulent travel reimbursements and inaccurate time sheets related to those trips.
"Snyder would often brag about taking personal travel and finding cause to claim it as a business expense," an agent with the attorney general's office reported in a court affidavit.
Snyder is charged in Oklahoma County District Court with six counts of filing a false claim against the state and a computer crime. The attorney general's office filed the charges Tuesday afternoon.
“The evidence gathered shows an abuse of authority, which undermined the agency and its
fiduciary responsibilities to its more than 9,000 police officers and their families,” Attorney General Mike Hunter said. “My office remains dedicated to those members and their families, while holding accountable those who attempt to take advantage of them.”
Hunter noted the accusations are only that operational funds were misused and no pension trust funds were involved.
Snyder denies wrongdoing.
“We’ve reviewed the information and the affidavit and we look forward to defending these erroneous allegations. Mr.
Snyder is innocent of any wrongdoing, period,” defense attorney Mack Martin told The Oklahoman.
Snyder was fired in March after coming under criminal investigation because of an anonymous tip about his travel. He had been executive director of the state agency for about nine years.
The agency manages the $2.5 billion pension fund for municipal police officers in Oklahoma.
The tip involved allegations Snyder engaged in excessive travel for personal business and was being reimbursed with state funds, authorities reported. Prosecutors allege the crimes occurred between 2012 and 2017. The amount alleged to have been embezzled was
not released.
Snyder would often schedule personal trips and then seek to justify the travel as a state expense by setting up impromptu meetings with investment firm representatives wherever he was planning to go, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors also allege Snyder submitted fraudulent time sheets that did not accurately reflect the annual leave he had taken and trips unrelated to his work as executive director.
In 2014, Snyder initiated contact with investment managers in New York to arrange meetings during a layover before a connecting flight to Europe for a cruise with his wife, according to the affidavit.
Snyder did the same
thing in 2017, the agent reported.
"Snyder further planned a meeting with an investment manager on his return trip from New York," the agent reported. "State funds reimbursed Snyder for airfare, ground transportation, per diem and lodging for European travel from New York."
Snyder attended the OU-Texas football game in Dallas in 2013, 2014 and 2015, according to the affidavit. Snyder claimed each trip was related to business meetings, the agent reported.
If convicted, Snyder faces up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each false claim count. The computer crime has a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.