Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and her husband, Timothy Granison, are facing felony gun charges under an indictment handed up by a Monroe County grand jury and unsealed by a judge on Friday.
Warren and Granison have each been charged with criminal possession of a firearm, a class E felony; two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child; and two counts of failure to lock or secure a firearm in a dwelling, a misdemeanor violation under Rochester’s city code, according to a news release from the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
A copy of the indictment was not available Friday, and will likely be available from the court next week, according to an office spokesperson. The defendants will be arraigned on the charges before Justice Thomas Leone, a Cayuga County Court judge who will handle the case in Monroe County Court, though a date has not yet been set, according to the DA’s office.
The indictment stems from a search warrant executed May 19 by New York State Police at the Woodman Park house shared by Warren and Granison, who are legally separated but live together with their daughter under a co-parenting arrangement. Police have said that during the search, they found a handgun and a semi-automatic rifle, though it’s not clear which gun led to weapons charges against the pair.
The 10-year-old daughter of Warren and Granison was alone in the house at the time of the raid, the District Attorney’s Office said in its news release.
A city spokesperson directed requests for comment to Warren’s personal attorney, Joe Damelio. A message left at his office was not immediately returned, and he did not answer a call to his mobile phone.
Granison already faced drug and weapons charges before the unsealing of the newest indictment. He was charged in what law enforcement officials have described as an extensive sting that was seven months in the making. He was allegedly part of what prosecutors have called a "mid-level" drug ring that they’ve said sold powdered and crack cocaine in and around Rochester.
After Granison’s arraignment on the previous charges, Warren delivered a defiant address to reporters gathered at City Hall. As well as distancing herself from Granison, with whom she says she has been legally separated for years, she also denied having any involvement in the alleged crimes, saying, "I have done nothing wrong."
Warren already had legal troubles of her own. She and two of her political associates are facing felony charges connected to campaign finance violations alleged to have occurred during Warren’s 2017 re-election run. They’ve been charged with illegal coordination between political committees for the purpose of evading donor limits and first-degree participating in a scheme to defraud.
While Warren had vied for a third term as mayor, Councilmember Malik Evans defeated her in a landslide in the June 22 Democratic primary. Evans effectively ended her candidacy and is running unopposed in the November general election.
Jeremy Moule is CITY’s news editor. He can be reached at jmoule@rochester-citynews.com. Gino Fanelli is a CITY staff writer. He can be reached at gino@rochester-citynews.com.