Rochester mayor Lovely Warren and her husband plead not guilty to weapons and child endangerment charges after drug raid on their house turned up a loaded pistol, a rifle and their 10-year-old daughter home alone
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and her estranged husband pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from a police raid that allegedly turned up a rifle and pistol, and her 10-year-old daughter alone, in the home she shares with him
A grand jury indicted Warren and her husband Timothy Granison last week on a felony count of criminal possession of a firearm, as well as misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child and having unsecured guns in a home.
Warren and Granison pleaded not guilty during a brief court appearances and left without speaking to reporters.
Warren's attorney, Joseph Damelio, said the mayor didn't know about the guns and that he was eager to review the prosecution's evidence.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren on Wednesday in court, where she pleaded not guilty to weapons and child endangerment charges in connection to a May 19 raid on the home she shares with her estranged husband Timothy Granison
Police had searched the couple's home in connection to what authorities said was a 'mid-level' cocaine investigation. The search revealed a rifle and a handgun. The couple's 10-year-old daughter, pictured here, was allegedly left home alone at the time of the search
Authorities had searched the family's home May 19 as part of a cocaine trafficking investigation, investigators said at the time.
Granison, 42, was charged with drug counts after he was pulled over by police in his car and was found to be what investigators allege was a large quantity of cocaine, authorities said in May, and pleaded not guilty.
Dkeidron Dublin was also in the vehicle at the time.
The two men were pulled over as part of a wire-tapping investigation by the DA's office that began seven months ago.
The probe didn't originally target Granison but he then appeared on the radar of investigators around three months ago.
Mayor Lovely Warren posted this Facebook message shortly after being charged with various weapons offenses Friday
The Democrat's home (pictured) was one of seven raided that day as part of a drug investigation
Investigators then carried out a raid on the home he shares with the mayor and seized two firearms - a semi-automatic rifle and a loaded handgun.
The couple's 10-year-old daughter, Taylor, was home alone at the time.
Investigators said the raid on the couple home was part of a 'significant' mid-level drug operation in which Granison along with seven others were charged, although the mayor, who said she signed a separation agreement with Granison years ago, was not among those charged in the drug investigation.
More than two kilos of powdered and crack cocaine with a street value of around $60,000 were seized from the homes together with three firearms and one semi-automatic rifle.
One of the unregistered guns together with the rifle were allegedly found in the mayor's house together with $100,000 in cash.
The seven people charged in the drug investigation, including Granison are: Dublin, 39, 44-year-old Jason Siplin, 27-year-old Jason Siplin, Jr., 30-year-old Namon Brown, 19-year-old Ernest S. Gamble and 32-year-old Lytrice Jackson.
A day after the raid, Warren hit out at the 'highly suspicious' timing of her husband's arrest.
Granison hid his face under a shirt as he left jail on May 20 following his first court appearance on criminal drugs and firearms charges. Warren was not charged in the drug investigation
Granison appeared via video (above) in Rochester City Court from the Monroe County jail, where he spent the night following his arrest the day before
He pleaded not guilty and was released without bail ahead of his next court appearance June 21 - one day before Rochester's mayoral primary where Warren is seeking reelection
'There's nothing implicating me in these charges announced today, because I've done nothing wrong,' Warren said in a prepared statement. 'I haven't spoken to Tim since his arrest, and I'm not standing here to defend him.'
She was seeking reelection as Rochester mayor for a third term, and the mayoral primary was on June 22 - one day after the date set for Granison's next court appearance.
She suggested that Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley had been politically motivated in the timing of her husband's arrest.
'Let's ask ourselves why - I find the timing of yesterday's events three weeks before early voting starts to be highly suspicious,' she said.
'We need to ask ourselves, if this is not about politics why is Tim's next court date June 21, the day before primary day?
'Now that is quite the coincidence.'
Warren would go on to be defeated in the primary by City Councilmember Malik Evans, and Doorley would not rule out the possibility that Warren was 'in trouble' and said she expected more arrests and charges in connection to the investigation.
State police conduct a search and carry items out of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren's home in May
Officials revealed the raid on the mayor's home was one of seven raids on homes that day as part of a drugs bust
Two firearms were seized from the home of the mayor with Granison charged with the illegal possession of a firearm over one of them
Warren has spent the past year between crises. She was indicted in October on charges she broke campaign finance rules during her last reelection campaign, four years ago.
The treasurers of her campaign and political action committees were also charged.
She has acknowledged making errors in the handling and reporting of campaign contributions but said they were honest mistakes, not crimes.
Last summer, she faced calls to resign over her handling of the death of Daniel Prude, a black man who stopped breathing after police placed him in a mesh hood and pressed him to the pavement.
Police and city officials said almost nothing publicly about the death for months until Prude's family obtained and released body camera video showing his death.
In March, a probe into the official response to Prude's death, commissioned by Rochester's city council, said Warren lied to the public about what she knew and when she knew it. A special counsel to the city administration disputed those claims.
In April, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed naming Warren and other city officials, accusing them of allowing a culture of police brutality against racial minorities.
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