Complaint: Mayor Warren’s husband made a drug deal with their daughter in tow 

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Five days before he was arrested on weapon and drug charges, Mayor Lovely Warren’s husband, Timothy Granison, allegedly conducted a drug deal on a Neighborhood of the Arts side street from the back seat of his car while his and the mayor’s 10-year-old daughter sat in the front seat.

Two days later, on a Sunday morning, Granison drove the mayor’s luxury car, a Lincoln MKS, to the same location on Birch Crescent to allegedly make another drug deal.

The allegations were detailed in a 67-page affidavit filed Monday in federal court in support of a criminal complaint that outlined new federal charges against Granison and five other people alleged to be players in a cocaine ring in Rochester. The affidavit was signed by a federal Homeland Security agent.

The charges come nearly three weeks after Granison, 42, and the others were arrested on similar state charges. The other defendants are Jason Siplin, whom prosecutors allege orchestrated the ring, and his son, Jason “Mush” Siplin Jr., as well as Ernest “Dred” Gamble, Lytrice “Storm” Jackson, and Dkeidron Dublin.

Granison and the others face federal conspiracy charges to possess and sell at least 280 grams of crack cocaine and at least 500 grams of cocaine, according to the complaint. Dublin was also charged with unlawfully possessing a gun.

It was not immediately clear whether the federal drug charges against the defendants would supersede the state charges, although that would not be uncommon.

The complaint and its accompanying affidavit detail numerous instances of coordination between the defendants to allegedly buy, package, and sell cocaine, including the instances in which Granison is accused of conducting a drug deal in the mayor’s car and, on a separate occasion, from his car with he and the mayor’s daughter in tow .

Undercover investigators watched Granison drive away from the Woodman Park home he shares with Warren with their daughter in the front seat, according to the affidavit, to meet Dublin on Birch Crescent to allegedly drop off some drugs.

“I’m about to drop this uuhmm, this ahh sticker off,” Granison allegedly told Dublin over the phone, using what investigators claimed was a coded language for drugs. “’Cause I got my daughter with me but I don’t got, I got to get some tape, oh I do got tape, alright.”

The conversation, and others detailed in the affidavit and complaint, were captured as a result of a wiretap investigation authorized by an eavesdropping warrant.

The complaint and affidavit make only a passing reference to Warren, who is identified only by her initials, “L.W.” The documents refer to “L.W.” as being Granison’s wife, and note that the Lincoln MKS that Granison is alleged to have used to conduct a drug deal was registered to “L.W.”

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Since State Police searched her home and arrested Granison on May 19, Warren has maintained that she has been legally separated from Granison for some time but that they share their Woodman Park home in an effort to co-parent their daughter.
Legal separations are not public documents. They are typically filed in state court as the basis for a divorce proceeding. While divorce proceedings unfold in court, and the parties of a divorce are identified as a matter of public record, their supporting documentation is sealed in New York. There is no court record of either Warren or Granison having filed for divorce from each other.

Justin Roj, a mayoral spokesperson, issued a statement Monday following the filing of the federal charges that read: “As Mayor Warren has stated, this investigation has nothing to do with her and she will not allow it, or anything else, to distract her from meeting the needs of our city’s people and caring for her daughter. That continues to be true today.”

The mayor has suggested publicly that her husband's arrest was part of a politically- and racially-motivated conspiracy to "break her" just weeks before the coming primary election. Warren is pursuing a third term and fending off a challenge for the Democratic ticket in the primaries from City Councilmember Malik Evans.

Granison was arrested around 3:20 p.m. outside 5 Birch Crescent along with Dublin, who had left the house and joined Granison in the front passenger seat of Granison’s car. Police moved in on them believing that they were about to make a drug deal, according to the affidavit.

Investigators found 31 grams of cocaine in a bag wrapped in a paper towel on the floor of Granison’s car and uncovered $1,241 from Dublin that they believe he was using to pay Granison for the drugs, according to the affidavit. Police subsequently searched his home.

The affidavit also revealed the substance of interviews between investigators and three of the defendants, and detailed searches of most of the properties in question. Notably absent, however, was any mention of Granison having been questioned or the search of his home.

The three defendants whose interviews were detailed were the elder and younger Siplin and Gamble. All three men, according to the documents, acknowledged being drug dealers and operating out of locations on Glenwood Avenue and Clifton Street.

Granison was in federal court on Monday to hear the charges against him, which were first reported by the Democrat and Chronicle. He has been released pending trial.

David Andreatta is CITY's editor. He can be reached at [email protected].