District Attorney Sandra Doorley announced on Friday that a Democrat mayor has been indicted on two felony campaign finance charges.
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley has just announced the indictment of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren for two felony campaign finance charges which stem from her 2017 mayoral re-election campaign.
The first felony charge is first degree scheme to defraud, and the second is an election law offense for illegally coordinating expenditures and activities. In New York, political action committees (PACs) and committees are forbidden from coordinating.
The New York State Board of Elections’ investigation claims that, according to 2017 expenditure reports obtained by Rochester First, the Warren for a Stronger Rochester PAC transferred $30,000 to Warren’s committee, Friends of Lovely Warren.
Mayor Warren has referred to the investigation as a “political witch hunt,” and denies any claims of wrongdoing on her part. She claims that the funds were wrongly deposited in the PAC account.
According to The Blaze, “Warren’s attorney, Joseph Damelio, said the length of time between the accusations and the investigation that led to the indictments shows the flimsiness of the criminal case.”
If Warren is convicted on the Class E felony charges, under state law she would be removed from office, and would face a maximum sentence of anywhere between 16 months to four years.
As reported by USA Today: “While Warren would be unlikely to be incarcerated, her pension could be forfeited if the matter is determined to be a crime related to public office, and she also could lose her law license.”
According to District Attorney Doorley, Warren has not been arrested, but will be processed. During a news briefing, Doorley stated: “This could be a long process and we anticipate that there could be challenges along the way so I don’t think this will be anything resolved quickly.”
Albert Jones Jr., Warren’s campaign treasurer, and Rosalind Brooks-Harris, who is both Rochester’s finance director and the treasurer of Warren’s PAC, have also been indicted.
Warren, Jones Jr., and Brooks-Harris will be arraigned on October 5th at 4 p.m. in Monroe County in front of Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone.