Martin County Sheriff William Snyder may be retiring but is he done with politics?

STUART − When Martin County Sheriff William Snyder steps away from the agency he’s run since 2012 capping a half-century law enforcement career, he’ll look back with pride. But he’s eyeing his future too, which may include a return to elected office.

On March 6, Snyder announced he will not seek a fourth term as sheriff and said at age 71, it’s time to usher in a new administration.

"I have loved every minute of every day that I have been sheriff and I will miss it dreadfully,” Snyder said during a wide-ranging interview to discuss his 50 years in law enforcement, his legacy and what comes next.

“I’m only leaving,” he added, “because the time is right for the Sheriff's Office to have younger leadership.”

Snyder, whose term ends Jan. 7 when a new sheriff is sworn in, promptly endorsed Chief Deputy John Budensiek, a 27-year veteran of the office who has filed papers to run for sheriff.

“I have 100% confidence in him,” Snyder said of Budensiek.

‘Keeping people safe,’ a kid’s wish come true

After 20 years as a Miami officer, 13 years at the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, and a dozen years as sheriff – served after a six-year stint in state politics - Snyder got the career he dreamed of as a fifth grader, writing a class paper on what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“I wrote I want to be a cop. I wanted to be a Metro-Dade cop, which is what I became and did for 20 years, and that's all I've ever wanted to do,” he said. “My heart is putting on a badge and gun, going to work and keeping people safe.”

Born in New York City and raised in Miami, Snyder turned 21 while attending the police academy and spent two decades as a patrol officer and detective sergeant.

He got on the Martin County politics radar in 1992 when he lost a GOP primary race for sheriff to Robert Crowder, who was reelected to the post for 20 years.

When Snyder challenged Crowder, he said his Miami police pals thought he was nuts.

“It was unimaginable; I was not a politically active person. I knew nothing about politics,” he said. “I have always felt it was God's direction.”

At the time, Snyder lived in Hobe Sound with his young family, and had been commuting to Miami for nearly six years.

In 1993, Snyder joined Crowder at the Sheriff’s Office as the director of law enforcement with the rank of captain.

Six months later he was tapped to lead the search for 10-year-old Andrea Gail Parsons, who was last seen on July 11, 1993, leaving a Port Salerno store two blocks from her home on Southeast Ebbtide Avenue.

Andrea Parsons: ‘ultimate unsolved murder’

The girl was never seen again and is presumed to be murdered.

“It actually causes my stomach to twist in a knot that we did not find her remains,” said Snyder, who called her disappearance the “ultimate unsolved murder.”

Back then, the agency’s sparce resources and antiquated technology stymied efforts to find her, he said.

“If that would have occurred today,” Snyder said, “we would have solved it.”

In 2014, Chester Price, of Alabama, was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder related to Andrea’s disappearance.  Records show since 2020, he’s been held in involuntary civil confinement to receive sex offender treatment under Florida’s Jimmy Ryce Act.

From law enforcer to lawmaker and back again

Before winning the Stuart-based state House District 82 seat in 2006 at age 53, Snyder said he hadn’t considered state politics until his neighbor, Joe Negron, then a state representative, urged him to run.

“He said, ‘Will, I'm not running for my seat,’” Snyder recalled. “I remember thinking ‘wow, you can make laws, it'd be just as good as enforcing the law.’ So, I ran, and I won and spent six years there.”

He was reelected in 2008 and ran unopposed in 2010.

In a 2012 race to replace Crowder, Snyder won a three-way GOP primary and then beat a write-in candidate.

“I wanted to be sheriff because I thought it was about the best police job in the world,” he said.

He headed the agency during investigations of a number of high-profile cases, including a rash of “pillowcase burglaries” targeting suburban communities; the 2016 slayings of a Tequesta couple by Austin Harrouff, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity; and the February 2019 probe into multiple day spas involving allegations of human trafficking and sex-for-pay.

Dozens of men were arrested, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft by Jupiter police, on solicitation charges that were later dropped.

Today, Snyder said he remains “deeply concerned” about the number of undocumented immigrants in Martin County and the number currently in jail facing felony crimes.

“Of the 30-something that we have in jail, 10 are in there for serious sexual abuse cases,” he said. “I know people get swept up in the politics, but to me this is not Democrat or Republican, this is just pure public safety.”

In February, he traveled to Cochise County, Arizona to get “a detailed briefing on the implications of our open border.”

Untapped political ambitions?

Immigration reform may be in Snyder’s political future if Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, of Fort Pierce ever decides not to seek reelection to his U.S. House of Representatives District 21 seat.

Snyder though, insisted that he’d run only if Mast were to vacate the GOP seat he first won in 2016.

“100% I would consider it, if it were an open seat,” he said. “I would not run against an incumbent.”

Asked why voters would want him in Congress, Snyder was succinct.

“Because they need a new sheriff in Washington,” he said. “Good government is not an accident … I know the hard work that goes into it and I would love to be part of helping govern this country.”

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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at  melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: What's next for Martin County Sheriff William Snyder