MITZI BICKERS: A TIMELINE

1966: Born in Atlanta to Ethel and the Rev. Benjamin Weldon Bickers, founder of Emmanuel Baptist Church in southeast Atlanta. 1989: Graduated from Spelman College.

1993: Elected to Atlanta Board of Education at age 27.

1998: Became pastor at Emmanuel Baptist.

2003: Resigned from school board to run for Fulton County Commission chairman; finished third in a fourcandidate race.

March 2004: Formed the Bickers Group, a political consulting firm. October 2004: Files for bankruptcy. During bankruptcy, she goes to work as an executive for one of Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr.’s companies, and withdraws her bankruptcy plea after receiving a pair of bonuses.

2009: Works for Kasim Reed’s campaign for Atlanta mayor, conducting get-out-the-vote activities for a runoff election under a company called Operation Get Out The Vote.

2010: Hired as director of human services for the city of Atlanta. While a city employee, collects $875,827 in political consulting fees; clients included former DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, former Gov. Roy Barnes, and Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. She took a 76-day leave of absence in 2012 to work on various campaigns.

July 2011: Acquires a $775,000 home on Lake Spivey in Henry County with a $251,000 mortgage furnished by the seller, court records show. Meaning she paid nearly $524,000 down.

August 2012: The $251,000 mortgage is satisfied, court records show.

March 2013: Steps down from job with the city of Atlanta.

September 2015: A brick crashes through a window at Mitchell’s Atlanta home. Dead rats are also left on his property. Mitchell tells Atlanta police he is working with federal investigators on a case. An associate of Bickers and Mitchell’s, Shandarrick Barnes, is later charged in the incident.

August 2016: Subpoenas are delivered to the city of Atlanta for records related to Bickers and Keylah Jackson. October 2016: Bickers joins Clayton County Sheriff ’s Office as a chaplain.

November 2016: Bickers takes out a mortgage with a bail bondsman for $88,701.41 backed by the Lake Spivey home. November 2016: Subpoenas are delivered to the city for records related to Mitchell and Charles P. Richards Jr, another city contractor. January 2017: Charges against Mitchell become public. He pleads guilty in federal court. Emails show attorneys for Bickers are pushing back against U.S. prosecutors investigating Bickers’ finances.

April 5, 2018: U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta announces 11-count indictment against Bickers, charging her with conspiracy to commit bribery to obtain city contracts for two contractors, along with money laundering and filing fake tax returns. The bribes totaled more than $2 million, prosecutors said.