LAWRENCE — The union that represents police officers throughout New England is calling on Mayor Brian DePena to resign after he was indicted on federal charges this summer.
“Today, we renew that call,” said leadership of the New England Police Benevolent Association, after DePena was indicted on 15 additional criminal charges late last week.
“For the residents of Lawrence and the dedicated public employees who serve this community every day, this continued turmoil surrounding the Mayor’s Office is unacceptable.”
NEPBA has consistently maintained that leadership requires transparency, accountability, and respect for the law, the statement said.
“The men and women we represent are expected to uphold those standards every single day. They have every right to expect the same from the elected officials who oversee their city.”
Mayor DePeña is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process in both the state and federal proceedings against him, the NEPBA statement said.
City Council President Jeovanny Rodriguez called the indictments “awful” and said DePena “should reevaluate his position as mayor.” Councilors may schedule a special meeting soon to discuss the allegations, he said.
“The mayor needs to take this seriously,” Rodriguez said.
Juan “Manny” Gonzalez, DePena’s challenger last fall, called for DePena’s immediate resignation on Thursday. DePena was reelected to his second term in November.
Neither DePena nor his criminal defense attorney, Neil Faigel, have commented on the latest criminal charges.
DePena is expected to be arraigned in Salem Superior Court Oct. 8.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced late Thursday afternoon DePena had been indicted on 14 counts of wiretap violations and one count of intimidation of a witness.
DePena is accused of interfering with a Lawrence police officer who was delivering grand jury subpoenas to individuals in the city, police said.
The indictments are in addition to the federal charges announced in August for $1.5 million in COVID-19 loan fraud.
He is accused of using the proceeds to fund his campaign account and pay personal taxes.
DePena also used the money to pay off more than $880,000 in high-interest mortgages on various properties he owned in Lawrence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He was released after his initial appearance and arraignment in federal court in Boston. DePena had to surrender his passport and he is not allowed to travel beyond Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
In the City Hall investigation, state troopers, armed with search warrants, seized four cameras from City Hall in March as part of an ongoing criminal investigation by Campbell’s office into the recording.
Campbell’s investigation “revealed that, beginning in 2023, Mayor DePeña requested and installed a security system for his office, separate from the security cameras that were already installed and maintained in City Hall,” according to a press release.
Campbell alleges in March 2026 “a hallway conversation outside of the Mayor’s Office within Lawrence City Hall between two public employees was secretly audio and video recorded by one of Mayor DePeña’s private security cameras, unbeknownst to at least one of the conversation participants.”
“Knowing that this conversation had been both audio and video recorded, Mayor DePeña distributed copies of the recording to 14 individuals. Security cameras owned and operated by the City of Lawrence do not record audio, and there was no public notice that the mayor’s private surveillance system was recording audio,” Campell said.
In August, Campbell further alleged DePeña committed an additional offense in violation of witness intimidation statute involving a witness in the case.
The leaked video showed William Castro, DePena’s former chief of staff, and Francisco Urena, the Lawrence airport director. The two men could be seen and heard talking outside the mayor’s office.
It’s illegal in Massachusetts to secretly record or wiretap an in-person or telephone conversation without the consent of everyone involved. Violating the law is a felony, according to the state’s general laws.
Since the leak, Castro was terminated and there were numerous calls for DePena to resign. An effort to recall DePena as mayor is also underway.
After his firing, Castro filed a lawsuit seeking $4.5 million alleging that he was secretly recorded while he was DePena’s chief of staff, in part because he is Puerto Rican.
The lawsuit claims Castro was “secretly audio-recorded without his knowledge or consent” in violation of the state’s wiretapping laws.
Castro “had no involvement in the procurement, installation, configuration or operation of the surveillance system,” according to the lawsuit.
Previously a political ally of DePena, Castro served as chief of staff and also acting chief of the Lawrence Police Department in DePena’s administration.
Director of IT Services Carlos Castillo has said the recording system was installed in 2023 outside DePena’s office, but the audio function was initially disabled. It’s unclear how the audio was restored to the system that could only be accessed from Castro’s office, according to an email obtained by The Eagle-Tribune.
However, Castro “had not been aware that secret unlawful audio recordings were being made in City Hall,” according to the lawsuit, which added there “may have been more than one source of audio recording” at City Hall.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on X @EagleTribJill and Threads at jillyharma.