Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña has been arrested and charged in federal court, accused of misusing COVID-19 relief money intended for his tire business, according to court documents obtained by WCVB. Prosecutors allege DePeña used pandemic-era funds for political campaign expenses and to cover personal debts, setting off a new legal fight for the city’s top executive.
DePeña’s case centers on the proper use of federal COVID relief designed to help businesses during the pandemic. In documents reviewed by NewsCenter 5, DePeña faces two charges, and an arrest warrant was issued the day before his arrest, according to the reporting. City Council President Jeovanny Rodriguez later confirmed that DePeña was taken into custody on Friday.
The arrest comes as questions remain swirling around DePeña’s administration and related investigations. The WCVB report notes that the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office became involved after a leaked recording connected to city staff. In that matter, a camera reportedly captured both video and audio of a conversation involving the mayor’s chief of staff and a city employee, and the leaked material helped trigger the Attorney General’s inquiry.
Massachusetts law includes significant restrictions on secretly recording others. The WCVB reporting emphasizes that it is a felony in Massachusetts to record someone’s audio without consent, underscoring the stakes of the separate state investigation. The outlet also said it remained unclear whether a more recent search warrant was connected to that Attorney General inquiry into the leaked recording.
While the federal case is distinct from the state investigation into the leaked conversation, the overlap in the administration’s legal troubles raises the pressure on DePeña and his office. The reporting describes how the chief of staff incident emerged after a video-and-audio conversation was allegedly captured and then leaked, prompting law enforcement attention from Massachusetts authorities.
In the wake of the chief-of-staff episode described by WCVB, the city removed the person involved from his role shortly afterward and replaced him with Johanny Guillermo, according to the primary context provided. That leadership change followed the episode’s fallout, though the legal questions surrounding the recording and any related warrants have continued to develop.
Federal prosecutors’ focus in DePeña’s case is the alleged diversion of pandemic business relief funds. The complaint, as summarized in the WCVB account, claims DePeña used money intended for tire business support not for business needs but instead to advance political aims and settle personal obligations. Those allegations, if proven, would represent a corruption of emergency economic relief programs and a violation of the trust embedded in the pandemic loan framework.
The U.S. Department of Justice has previously described similar accusations involving pandemic lending in Massachusetts, including charges involving pandemic loan fraud and money laundering. The DOJ statement in that related matter underscores that federal authorities have been actively pursuing alleged misuse of COVID-related funds across the state Justice Department. In DePeña’s situation, the core allegation described in the reporting is that federal pandemic relief money was not used as intended.
DePeña’s arrest was carried out following an arrest warrant issued Thursday, according to the court-related information described by WCVB. With the mayor now facing federal charges, the next phase will likely include court appearances, disclosure of evidence, and arguments over whether the government can prove intent and misuse as alleged in the charging documents.
The reported timing of events also highlights how quickly legal exposure can compound for public officials. Beyond the federal allegations, WCVB’s account refers to an earlier investigation triggered by leaked recordings, including attention by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office WCVB-TV. The overlap between political leadership, internal administration communications, and investigative scrutiny has left DePeña’s tenure under an unusually heavy legal spotlight.
For residents of Lawrence, the dispute is likely to have immediate practical implications. The mayor’s office must continue functioning amid the uncertainty of criminal proceedings, while the city council and other officials face questions about continuity of leadership and how municipal operations will proceed during the case.
In the meantime, DePeña’s federal case remains rooted in the allegations contained in court paperwork: that he faced two federal charges tied to alleged misuse of COVID relief funds meant for his tire business. The claims include using the money for campaign purposes and personal debts, which prosecutors characterize as a misuse of funds provided for emergency economic stabilization WCVB-TV.
As federal proceedings move forward, the public will be watching for further details on what evidence the government will present, whether DePeña contests the charges in court, and how any legal findings related to the separate state investigation—such as questions about recording consent—may intersect with or remain wholly separate from the federal allegations.
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