Overview
- Brian DePeña pleaded not guilty in Essex Superior Court to 14 counts of distributing a wiretapped communication and one count of witness intimidation, and he was released on personal recognizance with a next state hearing set for Dec. 9.
- State prosecutors say private cameras installed for the mayor’s office recorded audio of a March hallway conversation and that copies of the recording were shared with 14 people, which they say violated Massachusetts wiretapping laws.
- DePeña’s defense insists he had no passcodes or technical access to the videos and that the city IT department managed the system, a factual dispute that will be central to the state case.
- Separate federal prosecutors continue to pursue an indictment accusing DePeña of misusing roughly $1.6 million in pandemic EIDL funds for business, personal, and campaign expenses, a case that remains active in federal court.
- Local political consequences escalated after the arraignment when a council committee voted 5-2 to send a no-confidence resolution to the full council and a recall affidavit was filed to start collection of 7,078 required signatures while the city retained CliftonLarsonAllen for an independent governance review.