Wig-wearing robbery suspect pleads no contest to charges

A 76-year-old man has pleaded no contest to several charges, including robbing a Hidden Hills home while wearing a wig and pretending to be a sheriff’s deputy, officials said Thursday.

Ronald Snyder of Chatsworth was charged with multiple counts, including assault with a firearm, burglary, grand theft, criminal threats, possession of a firearm and dissuading a witness by force or threat, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

He entered his plea Wednesday.

In one of several home robberies Snyder is accused of committing between April and July 2013 in Hidden Hills, authorities say he donned the wig and assumed a false law enforcement identity before going into a victim’s home and threatening her with a gun.

Snyder, a husband, father and grandfather, was arrested in July 2013 after sheriff’s deputies found him armed with a gun and trying to force his way into a home.

The wig, two handguns (one of which had a silencer), gloves, rope, handcuffs and false law enforcement identification were found in Snyder’s car.

The plea added six charges to Snyder’s record. He faces a sentence of more than 16 years in state prison. His next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.

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