LAWTON – The co-owner of a petting zoo who was named in two felony charges of obtaining money by false pretenses received a split decision in Comanche County District Court.
Sammy Dwayne Snider, also known as DeWayne S. Snider, pleaded “no contest” to a felony charge accusing him of swindling an Elgin man who paid him $27,250 for a construction project.
A separate charge accused Snider of engaging in “a confidence game” designed to be “a trick or deception and done with the intent to cheat and defraud” a Fletcher couple who paid him $23,600 to build a barn. In that case Snider was exonerated at trial.
Court records indicate the complainants all received restitution.
Snider, 51, previously listed a Fletcher address but now lists a home address in Sterling, Oklahoma State Courts Network records show. Snider is named, along with his wife, as a co-owner of Snider Family Exotics Petting Zoo east of Sterling off SH-17.
In a related matter, Snider received misdemeanor citations in Comanche County from the state Department of Wildlife Conservation twice in recent years.
In June 2021 he was ticketed for possession of wildlife without a commercial breeder’s license. A family member paid the $289 fine with a credit card in May 2022.
On June 24, 2023, Snider was ticketed again for possession of wildlife without a commercial breeder’s license. This time the fine was $739, which Snider paid in cash a month later, court records reflect.
Felony charge filed in Elgin project On Sept. 16, 2020, Joel Dale Fogelstrom and Snider “agreed to a construction project” at Fogelstrom’s residence in Elgin, Comanche County Sheriff’s Department Detective Chad Kenyon wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Snider was supposed to replace the roof on Fogelstrom’s house, build two porches and pour a cement slab for the front porch, Kenyon reported. Snider accepted from Fogelstrom a check for $27,250 that Snider deposited into his bank account.
After several months “with no contact” from Snider, Fogelstrom “reach[ed] out” more than once “to find out when he was going to start the construction.” Each time Snider gave him an excuse, “ranging from” Snider claiming he had contracted COVID-19 to “his son having heart issues” to Snider “having cancer.”
On March 4, Snider entered a plea of nolo contendere to a felony charge of obtaining money from Fogelstrom by false pretenses. Snider admitted he received the money but afterward “got sick” and was unable to do the work.
The Latin term nolo contendere, better known as “no contest,” is similar to a guilty plea. However, a defendant who enters a nolo plea agrees to be convicted and punished for a crime, while not actually admitting that he is guilty.
In a plea agreement, District Judge Jay Walker gave Snider, a first-time offender, a deferred five-year prison sentence. The deferred sentence delays punishment in Snider’s criminal case for five years. If after that time all terms of probation have been met, a deferred sentence provides him with an opportunity to have his conviction dismissed.
Walker also imposed $1,575 in fines, court costs and other assessments. The debt is to be retired in installments at the rate of $50 and is to be paid in full by Nov. 3, 2026. “Restitution has been paid,” a court document states.
Judge clears Snider in Fletcher case In his other case, Snider was charged in January 2022 with obtaining $23,600 from James and Neta O’Leary of Fletcher by false pretenses.
Former Fletcher Police Chief Jason DeLonais said the O’Learys contacted his office on Sept. 23, 2021, “with a complaint about being financially exploited” by Snider. The O’Learys reported communicating with Snider in 2020 about building a barn for them.
Fletcher Police Officer Dustin Wilson gathered enough evidence to secure a probable cause warrant to obtain Snider’s financial records. “Officer Wilson found some inconsistencies, some things we thought the district attorney should take a look at,” DeLonais said.
Snider’s financial records showed that he deposited a $14,000 check from the O’Learys on Nov. 4, 2020; a $5,200 check from the couple on Jan. 28, 2021; and a $4,400 check from the couple on Feb. 25, 2021.
In an official affidavit, Wilson reported that when Snider accepted the O’Learys’ payments his bank account had been overdrawn three times “and had an insufficient funds charge.” Snider used some of the O’Learys’ payments for materials “and some was for labor,” DeLonais said.
Snider’s attorney, Monty Delluomo from Oklahoma City, wrote, “There was no intent to defraud anyone.” Snider “had previously done work for the O’Learys and they called him back for more work.” However, an illness “caused him to fall behind on his work.” Snider did not defraud the O’Learys “nor did he gain any financial advantage, as the money he received went to materials for the job,” Delluomo told the court.
Snider was acquitted in a non-jury bench trial on March 27 “The court finds that the State has failed to meet the burden” of proof “and finds the defendant not guilty,” Walker ruled.
A court document dated March 5 indicated Snider made restitution to the O’Learys; in that document, Delluomo challenged the prosecution’s “motion to treat defendant’s payment of restitution as an admission.” Another court document related that Snider “has agreed to accept a deferred sentence which includes restitution.”
Delluomo informed Judge Walker that the restitution amount sought by the O’Learys “totals nearly $48,000,” which is “more than double the agreed contract price.” Snider has agreed to “make them whole” but does not agree to “allow them to profit based on his misfortune.”
A restitution order “may include only those losses which are determinable with reasonable certainty,” Delluomo wrote in a legal brief submitted to the court, citing a 1992 Oklahoma court case and Title 22 of State Statutes.