By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
CLEVELAND: Former Summit County Councilwoman Tamela Lee chose not to take the stand Thursday in her federal bribery trial.
In fact, the trial ended with Lee’s attorneys calling no witnesses for her defense, bringing an abrupt halt to a proceeding that started Monday and was projected to last two weeks.
Closing arguments will be Friday morning and the case will then be in the hands of the jury in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.
Lee’s public defenders consulted with her during lunch Thursday about whether she should testify after blistering testimony from FBI Agent Michelle Stone who helped connect the dots between actions Lee took to help the Abdelqader family and deposits made to her personal bank accounts.
Stone followed a trio of witnesses from Akron: Akron Municipal Court Judge Jerry Larson, Akron Prosecutor Gert Wilms and Jonathan Groza, Larson’s bailiff who described the contact they had with Lee in 2014 as she attempted to assist the Albedeqaders with pending criminal matters.
Lee, 58, of Akron is accused of accepting small amounts of cash and other items in exchange for political favors to help Omar Abdelqader, who owns the Bi-Rite convenience store and other businesses in the Akron area, and his family and friends. She was a Summit County councilwoman from 2011 to 2016.
Lee’s three co-defendants, Omar Abdelqader, his brother, Abdelrahman Abdeqader, and his nephew, Samir Abdelqader, have all pleaded guilty. Samir was sentenced to probation, while the two brothers are scheduled to be sentenced in May by Judge Christopher Boyko.
Lee, however, refused a plea agreement and has insisted she did nothing wrong. Timothy Ivey, one of Lee’s three public defenders, said in his opening statement Tuesday that Omar Abdelqader was a friend who helped Lee during a time when she was struggling financially. He said she intended to pay Abdelqader back, didn’t accept anything of immense value and didn’t bribe anyone.
The federal investigation against Lee included wire taps on her and Abdelqader’s phones, surveillance photos, an examination of their trash, an informant who wore a wire to record conversations with Abdelqader, and an analysis of Lee’s bank accounts and campaign finance reports.
The testimony from Stone, who is an accountant, wove together this evidence. Stone said Lee was making $650 every two weeks for her part-time salary as a Summit County Councilwoman and had no other sources of income. She said Lee consistently in 2013 and 2014 had overdraft charges to her personal accounts at Chase and Huntington.
Other highlights of Stone’s testimony included:
* FBI agents photographed Lee meeting Abdelqader in the parking lot of his Face’s Night Club in Akron on May 22. Lee deposited $100 into one of her personal accounts and $120 into another account that day.
* On June 9, Abdelqader told Lee to stop by the Bi-Rite because his brother, Abdelrahman, had agreed to pay her $200 for the assistance she had provided in a criminal case pending against Samir Abdelqader, Abdelrahman’s son. That day, Lee deposited $200 into one of her personal accounts.
* Lee mentioned to Abdelqader on June 16 that she took money from her campaign account at First Merit Bank to cover her personal expenses. Bank records show Lee withdrew $550 from her campaign account and put it into one of her personal accounts.
* Lee told her sister on June 28 that Abdelqader had promised to raise $3,000 for her campaign, money that she could use to survive while Abdelqader traveled abroad. Her campaign finance reports show no contributions from Abdelqader or his family members.
* Lee pressed Abdelqader on July 29 about whether he’s had luck fundraising. He told her he had collected $500 from other local business owners. Lee deposited $400 into one of her personal accounts on July 31.
* Malek Albanna, a local business owner who was working with the FBI, paid for repairs to Lee’s car, which she later claimed she planned to pay back. Stone said Lee didn’t write a check to Albanna to repay him.
Stone and Agent Chris Fassler interviewed Lee at her home Sept. 9, 2014. Stone said she didn’t record the interview, but took notes that she later used in a report. She said she warned Lee about the importance of being truthful because lying to a federal agent is a crime.
Stone said Lee made several contradictory statements during their discussion and other statements that weren’t backed by the evidence in the case. Among them were that Lee said she had disclosed all the contributions made to her and that she didn’t call Judge Larson or the prosecutor’s office.
Darin Thompson, one of Lee’s public attorneys, questioned Stone about why she didn’t record the interview with Lee. He also pressed her about whether Lee may have been rattled during the interview and misspoken, rather than purposely lying. Stone conceded this was possible.
When the attorneys were finished asking Stone questions, the jurors asked for permission to question her as well, a process permitted in federal court.
One juror wanted to know if there was any surveillance footage of Abdelqader actually handing Lee money. Stone said there is not.
Another juror asked if Lee had disclosed on her state ethics reports contributions from Abdelqader or Albanna. Stone said she didn’t think these contributions were included on Lee’s ethics reports.
Earlier in the day, Larson testified that Lee called him in June 2014 and he attempted to call her back, but they never connected. He said Lee came to his office June 17 and asked about being a character witness for a criminal matter pending in his court for Sharif Hamed, Omar Abdelqader’s nephew. Larson said he and his bailiff suggested Lee talk to the assistant prosecutor on the case, which she then did.
Larson said he was surprised to see Lee in court.
“I’m not used to seeing public officials in my courtroom,” he said.
Larson said Lee didn’t offer him anything of value or suggest what action he should take on the case.
Akron Prosecutor Wilms testified that she had a phone conversation, taped by the wire tap on Lee’s phone, with Lee in July 2014 in which Lee asked about the potential for charges to be filed against the 28-year-old who was involved in the altercation that resulted in criminal charges against Omar Abdelqader’s two nephews. Wilms said she examined the case file and decided no additional charges were warranted.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter: @swarsmithabj .