TIMELINE OF TAMELA LEE CASE
December 2015: Tamela Lee and three co-defendants are indicted by a federal grand jury. Lee denies the bribery allegations in a Beacon Journal interview. Lee files to run for re-election for her Summit County Council seat.
January 2016: Samir Abdelqader, one of Lee’s co-defendants, pleads guilty to making false statements to law enforcement.
March 2016: Lee loses in the Democratic primary to former assistant Akron prosecutor David Hamilton.
May 2016: Samir Abdelqader is sentenced to three years of probation.
November 2016: Hamilton defeats his Republican challenger to claim Lee’s seat on County Council.
December 2016: Judge Christopher Boyko rejects Lee’s request to dismiss her case based on U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated bribery case.
January 2017: Hamilton assumes Lee’s seat. Abdelrahman and Omar Abdelqader, two brothers and Lee’s other co-defendants, plead guilty. Lee rejects a plea offer and decides to go to trial.
Feb. 6, 2017: Lee’s trial begins in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.
May 4, 2017: The Abdelqader brothers will be sentenced in federal court.