PHILADELPHIA — The owner of an Indiana masonry firm has been sentenced to 7½ years in prison for his part in a long-running case involving bribery and fraud in the renovation of Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.
Mark Snedden, 70, of Munster, Ind., was sentenced on Oct. 1 to 90 months in prison, a year of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and joint restitution of $2.06 million by U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone. A Department of Justice announcement of the sentencing had been delayed by the federal government shutdown.
Snedden had entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and making and presenting a false claim in April [see “Contractor pleads guilty …,” Trains.com, May 1, 2025].
Snedden’s firm received a $58.5 million contract for façade repair and restoration contract at the station in December 2015. From May 2016 to about November 2019, Snedden and three members of his firm provided an Amtrak employee with items worth more than $300,000, including vacations, jewelry, cash, a dog and dog training, and other gifts. That employee — previously identified as Ajith Bhaskaran, who died in 2020, provided the four men with details on the project and approved contract changes resulting in more than $2 million in overbilling [see “Contractor on Amtrak Philadelphia station project …,” Trains.com, March 6, 2024].
Another of the men involved, Donald Seefeldt, was sentenced to 57 months in prison earlier this year [see “Illinois man sentenced …,” Trains.com, June 5, 2025].
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