Rochester, NY, mayor's home searched by state police

The search was unrelated to the mayor's indictment on campaign finance fraud charges, authorities said

Rochester, NY, mayor's home searched by state police

State police troopers spent a few hours looking at the house of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren on Wednesday, saying it was part of a criminal investigation however disclosing no details.

Troopers closed off the block around Warren's house with police tape and could be seen taking items from the home, based on movie files by journalists in the scene.

State Police Maj. Barry Chase said he could release no extra info regarding the existence of law enforcement in the house. Police arrived at the residence around 4:30 p.m. ET.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We'll have more for you when we can," Chase explained.

A press release issued from the State Police said troopers were executing a search warrant. It didn't say for whom the warrant was intended. Warren's husband also lives in the house.

Warren was indicted in a campaign finance fraud situation in October, but a representative to the Monroe County District Attorney said Wednesday's police action at her residence wasn't connected to this case.

A spokesperson for Warren also said he could not immediately say more about the investigation.

"The mayor is just learning about the events that unfolded this day and has no more information than the rest of the community," Justin Roj said in a statement. "She expects to learn more information this evening and will have a statement "

Warren, a Democrat, is at the middle of a re-election effort with a critical bash primary coming up just next month.

She's spent the past year in catastrophe. She was indicted in October on charges that she broke campaign finance rules throughout her last reelection effort, four years back.

Over the summer, she faced calls to resign over her handling of the departure of Daniel Prude, a Black man who stopped breathing after authorities put him in a mesh hood and pressed him into the pavement. Police and city officials said nearly nothing publicly about the death for months until Prude's family got and published body camera video showing the passing.

Back in March, a probe to the official reply into Prude's departure, 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 town administration disputed those claims.

In April, a national civil rights litigation was filed naming Warren along with other city officials, accusing them of allowing a culture of police brutality against racial minorities.

She acknowledged making errors in the reporting and handling of campaign contributions but said they had been honest mistakes, not offenses.