Federal agents arrested Lawrence, Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePeña on charges he stole more than $1.5 million in pandemic relief money meant for struggling businesses, and the viral footage of his attorney telling reporters the mayor "doesn't speak English" has only deepened the fallout.
FBI agents showed up at DePeña's door on Friday morning with a bullhorn and a battering ram, the New York Post reported. The 61-year-old Democrat, born in the Dominican Republic, now faces one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, charges that carry a combined maximum of 30 years in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors say DePeña applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan through the Small Business Administration, a program Congress created under the CARES Act to keep businesses afloat during COVID-19, using his Lawrence tire shop, Tenares Tire Services Inc. He allegedly inflated the loan from roughly $150,000 to approximately $1.5 million and then diverted the money for purposes that had nothing to do with the business.
Over $880,000 allegedly went to personal mortgages, $90,000 to his own campaign
Where did the money go? Prosecutors allege DePeña funneled more than $880,000 in federal loan proceeds to pay off high-interest personal mortgages and wrote $90,000 in checks directly to his own 2021 mayoral campaign. He won that race in November 2021 and won re-election in November 2025, meaning Lawrence voters returned him to office without knowing federal investigators were building a fraud case against him.
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley did not hold back in a statement after the arrest:
"Mayor DePeña was elected to be a leader for the City of Lawrence. He was looked up to and trusted by his constituents, but he betrayed that trust through his alleged corruption and lies. Today's arrest is just another example of our determination to root out fraud by anyone, even public officials, and hold elected officials accountable."
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks was blunter. He told reporters the disaster loan program was "emergency financial assistance meant to be a safety net for struggling businesses, not Mr. DePeña's own personal ATM."
Docks added a warning aimed well beyond Lawrence:
"When elected officials misuse federal funds for personal gain, they're breaking the trust of their constituents, and breaking the law. You'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that easy money won't seem so easy after all."
DePeña had served on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021 before running for mayor. He has previously acknowledged being an illegal immigrant who came to the United States "without papers" before later becoming a U.S. citizen. None of that history insulated him from the federal fraud charges now hanging over his second term.
'He doesn't speak English', the attorney's claim that set off a firestorm
The arrest alone would have made news. But it was the scene outside the courthouse that turned the story into a national spectacle. When reporters approached DePeña for comment, his attorney Carlos Apostle stepped in with a response that drew immediate ridicule: "He doesn't speak English. No comment."
DePeña, for his part, smiled and repeated "God bless you" to the assembled press, in English.
Video of the exchange spread fast. The conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok posted the clip on X, where it drew more than one million views. The account's caption captured the tone of much of the reaction: "OMG. How is this real."
Conservative radio host Mike Gallagher wrote on X, "'He doesn't speak English, no comment' says the assistant of the mayor of an American city. Our melting pot has completely melted." Journalist Miranda Devine posted that "English fluency should be a basic prerequisite for holding public office."
The question Apostle's comment raised is straightforward: how does a man who allegedly cannot speak English serve two terms as mayor of an American city, sit on its city council for five years before that, and, according to prosecutors, execute a sophisticated scheme to inflate and redirect $1.5 million in federal loan funds? The attorney's claim invites more questions than it answers.
The case fits a pattern of federal investigators targeting elected officials who treated public trust as a personal entitlement. COVID-era relief programs disbursed hundreds of billions of dollars with minimal oversight, and the fraud cases have been piling up ever since, but few involve a sitting mayor allegedly using the money to bankroll his own election.
Post-arraignment car crash adds to the spectacle
The spectacle did not end at the courthouse steps. Shortly after the exchange with reporters, video circulated on social media appearing to show the car DePeña left in crashing into a parked vehicle while attempting to drive away. The Fox News headline on the incident identified DePeña's lawyer as the driver who "rear-ends parked car after Massachusetts mayor's arraignment." Whether anyone was injured or cited is not clear from available reporting.
DePeña's office and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. No plea from the arraignment has been publicly reported.
The AP confirmed the wire fraud count alone carries up to 20 years in prison, with the money laundering charge adding up to 10 more. DePeña remains in office as of the arrest.
Lawrence, a city of roughly 90,000 in northern Massachusetts, now finds itself governed by a mayor under federal indictment for allegedly treating pandemic aid as a slush fund. It is not the first time an elected Democrat has faced serious federal charges in recent months, from a congressional candidate in Hawaii charged with terrorist threats to corruption probes that have swept through city halls in the Northeast.
Nor is the broader problem limited to one party or one city. Federal raids on public officials accused of misconduct have become a recurring feature of the post-COVID accountability reckoning, as investigators claw back money that was supposed to keep small businesses alive.
Texas Republican congressional candidate Jace Yarbrough posted on X that the case illustrated deeper failures of assimilation. Miranda Devine's call for English fluency as a prerequisite for public office struck a nerve with millions of viewers who watched the clip and arrived at the same conclusion on their own.
Prosecutors promise more accountability is coming
The FBI's Docks framed the DePeña case as a warning shot, not a one-off. His statement made clear that federal investigators intend to keep pursuing pandemic fraud wherever it leads, including into the offices of elected officials who believed their positions placed them above scrutiny.
DePeña's constituents in Lawrence trusted him with their city. Federal prosecutors say he repaid that trust by looting a program designed to rescue small businesses during a national emergency, and then ran for re-election on the proceeds.
If the charges hold up, the people of Lawrence did not just lose a mayor. They lost him to the oldest scam in politics: a public servant who saw public money and decided to help himself first.
