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🔍 VIDEO SUMMARY:
🚨 Lawrence, Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePeña’s legal problems just got MUCH worse.
Already facing a federal fraud and money laundering case involving more than $1.5 MILLION in COVID-era small-business loans, DePeña has now been INDICTED on 15 NEW STATE CHARGES involving an allegedly secret recording inside Lawrence City Hall.
According to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office, DePeña had a private security system installed for his mayoral office beginning in 2023 — separate from the security cameras already operated by the City of Lawrence.
Prosecutors allege that in March 2026, one of those private cameras captured both VIDEO AND AUDIO of a hallway conversation between two public employees outside the mayor’s office — without at least one of the participants knowing the conversation was being recorded.
The city’s regular security cameras do NOT record audio, according to the Attorney General’s Office, and there was allegedly no public notice that DePeña’s private surveillance system was recording sound.
But prosecutors say it didn’t stop there.
DePeña allegedly knew the conversation had been secretly recorded and then DISTRIBUTED copies of the recording to 14 different people.
A statewide grand jury has now indicted the Lawrence mayor on:
• 14 counts of Distribution of a Wiretapped Communication
• 1 count of Witness Intimidation
The witness-intimidation allegation involves conduct prosecutors say occurred in August while the Attorney General’s investigation was underway.
These are allegations. DePeña has not been convicted of the new state charges, and he will be summoned to court for arraignment at a later date.
And all of this comes on top of DePeña’s OTHER criminal case.
The FBI arrested DePeña in August on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Federal prosecutors accuse him of fraudulently obtaining more than $1.5 million in COVID small-business loans and using proceeds to fund his political campaign, pay personal taxes and pay off more than $880,000 in high-interest mortgages on Lawrence properties.
DePeña has pleaded not guilty in the federal case.
The situation in Lawrence has become even more remarkable because State Representative Francisco Paulino, whose district includes Lawrence and Methuen, has ALSO been federally indicted in a separate pandemic-relief fraud case.
So Lawrence now has a sitting mayor simultaneously fighting FEDERAL fraud charges and a separate 15-count STATE indictment involving an allegedly secret City Hall recording.
And despite the mounting criminal cases, DePeña has previously indicated that he does not intend to resign.
What exactly was happening inside Lawrence City Hall — and why was the mayor allegedly distributing a secretly recorded conversation to 14 different people?
👇 Let me know what you think in the comments.
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