FORT COLLINS, Colo.—The author of the “Chess for Juniors” book series faces the possibility of life in prison after the convicted sex offender fled the country when he was supposed to be in Colorado.
Robert Snyder, a 55-year-old chess teacher, pleaded guilty on Friday to violating his probation.
He was released from prison in 2007 after serving a sentence for molesting young chess students. In 2008, he fled to Belize instead of serving 10 years of intensive supervision for sex offenders.
Snyder was located last November after the television show “America’s Most Wanted” featured him on an episode. According to police, a parent at an elementary school in Belize saw the show and tipped off law enforcement that a man matching Snyder’s description known as Augustin Rios was teaching chess to children through the school.
Prosecutors said Snyder used his world-renowned status as a chess teacher to gain families’ trust and to assault chess students between the ages of 10 and 12.
According to his Web site, Snyder’s Chess for Juniors program has introduced more than 170,000 young people to the game, and his students have won first place 36 times in championship sections at the National Scholastic chess competition.
After being arrested in Belize, Snyder was taken back to Colorado. He’s been held on a $1.5 million bond in Larimer County since Dec. 19.
On Friday, the chess teacher pleaded guilty to two felonies for failure to register as a sex offender and for violating his probation. He faces a possibility of life in prison.
Snyder will be sentenced March 30.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
