Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena entered a not guilty plea to state charges as prosecutors allege that he shared an illegally recorded conversation between two city staffers, then tried to abuse his power in order to demote a police captain who investigated the incident. DePena, 61, was indicted in September on 14 counts of distributing a wiretapped communication and one count of witness intimidation.
Taking the lead in the mayor’s prosecution is Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office. The two-term Democrat is also battling against unrelated federal charges for alleged pandemic loan fraud. DePena appeared in Essex Superior Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts against him. He was then released on personal recognizance.
DePena’s attorney, Neil Faigel, was asked to comment on the case and his client, but declined to do so. Prosecutors in the case say the embattled mayor requested private security cameras installed in his office at Lawrence City Hall, which would be separate from the city’s surveillance system. The information technology department installed the cameras in the fall of 2023, but disabled their audio recording feature.
According to a report from Boston.Com, the cameras somehow managed to pick up the audio of a rather “contentious” conversation between William Castro, who was DePena’s chief of staff at the time, and Francisco Urena, the manager of Lawrence Municipal Airport. Urena was reportedly unaware he was being recorded. Prosecutors say that DePena later circulated the recording to a total of 14 different people, including several radio hosts, political allies, some staff members, and several members of city council.
“He gave permission to at least one of the recipients to post the video on social media, where it was viewed by numerous members of the Lawrence community,” prosecutors said. Authorities soon started investigating the recording, which eventually led to DePena trying to “retaliate” against Harold Rogers, a police captain in Lawrence who was involved in the investigation.
According to information contained on the statement of facts, the mayor demanded Rogers be removed from his position as supervisor of the department’s Bureau of Investigations and given a lower-paying administrative role. DePena is due to appear in court concerning the state charges on December 9, 2026. DePena’s attorney spoke to reporters outside the courtroom on Tuesday.
Faigel said, “I’m sure you all probably know that the mayor is the mayor, he is not an IT person.” He then told the press that the state-level allegations against his client “in no way, shape, or form … have any ramifications on the workings of the city.” Despite the two major legal battles he’s facing, DePena has refused to resign from his position.
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Meanwhile, the members of the Lawrence City Council are mulling over a potential vote of no-confidence concerning his ability to lead. “I was elected to serve the people of this City, and I intend to continue fulfilling the responsibilities entrusted to me and serving the remainder of my term in office,” DePeña said in a public letter released last month.
“I respect the judicial process and the principle that every person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law,” he went on to say in the letter. “I am prepared to address these allegations through the proper legal process and to vigorously defend myself against the charges.” His attorney also noted that the mayor did not have access to surveillance videos, nor did he have passcodes to view them.
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