LAWRENCE — The mayor of Lawrence who went viral last December for needing a translator at an official hearing is back in the news. This time, it's because a search warrant was served on his City Hall and a hidden recording device was seized from the third floor, right outside his office.

The device was pulled from the building Tuesday afternoon as part of an active criminal investigation, according to First Assistant City Attorney Timothy Houten, who dropped the news at a City Council meeting that evening. Houten wouldn't say which law enforcement agency is running the probe. He did confirm that Lawrence Police stepped aside to avoid a conflict of interest.

The story has been covered by regional outlets like the Eagle Tribune and CBS Boston, but it was local voices like community advocate Julissa Nuñez and Spanish-language radio show Despierta Lawrence who were on it first. Nationally, it hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.

It started with a leaked recording. In late March, audio and video popped up from a camera hidden in the third-floor hallway of City Hall, right outside the mayor's office. The footage showed a heated argument between DePena's chief of staff, William Castro, and Lawrence Municipal Airport Director Francisco Urena, apparently over snow plowing at the airport.

The clip was first aired by Despierta Lawrence and blew up across local social media.

But the argument wasn't the issue. The issue was that nobody knew the camera was there. Or at least, almost nobody.

The City Council sees it differently. In their March 31 joint statement, they wrote that "this camera is NOT an official City of Lawrence device."

So either the mayor authorized a city security camera and didn't know it was recording audio, or the camera was never authorized at all. Those two stories don't line up.

Video surveillance in a public building? Generally fine. Secret audio recording? That's a whole different problem.

Three city councilors, President Jeovanny Rodriguez, Vivian Marmol, and Stephany Infante, put out a joint statement on March 31 calling for an immediate investigation. Rodriguez wrote that "government must operate with transparency, not surveillance" and demanded a full review of who authorized the recording, how long it had been running, and what was captured. The statement described a "recurring culture of retaliation and fear" inside City Hall.

That fear is real, according to people who walk through the building every day.

Julissa Nuñez, a Lawrence community advocate who's been one of the loudest voices on this story, said the recordings have people inside City Hall scared to talk.

"My concern, as well as the concerns of many, is how long those cameras have been there," Nuñez said. "I have been receiving multiple messages from city employees who are scared. Some of them are even friends with people like myself who have been vocal critics of this administration, and they feel they were being spied on."

"I just went to City Hall, and the people who usually say hi to me were afraid to even say hello. It's a scary situation, not only for community members but for city employees."

DePena announced on Thursday, April 2, that the city would be "parting ways" with Castro, effective immediately, calling it "in the best interest of the city." But Castro's history with the city goes back years.

DePena first brought him on as chief of staff in February 2023, just days after his predecessor got arrested. Eight months later, DePena also handed him the acting police chief job. That decision blew up almost immediately. On February 2, 2024, Castro launched a high-speed chase over a bad check. He drove the wrong way into oncoming traffic, and then allegedly wrote a false police report claiming he'd been chasing an armed bank robber. An independent investigator hired by the city concluded he'd broken several laws and recommended he be fired. The Massachusetts POST Commission suspended his policing certification on March 21, 2024, finding reason to believe he was "not fit for duty and a danger to the public." Proceedings to permanently revoke his certification are still ongoing.

DePena kept him on as chief of staff through all of it.

Councilor Stephany Infante put it plainly in the council's joint statement: "It is particularly concerning that the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Mr. Castro, a former law enforcement professional, is involved. If anyone in the Administration should be intimately familiar with privacy and recording laws, it is him."

The hearing where DePena went viral for needing a translator on December 22, 2025? That was a POST Commission hearing about whether to permanently strip Castro's policing certification. DePena showed up to defend his guy. The presiding officer denied his request to use a personal assistant as translator over concerns about mistranslations. The clip went everywhere. And now the guy DePena was defending at that hearing is at the center of an alleged wiretapping operation inside City Hall.

The New England Police Benevolent Association has called on DePena to "step down effective immediately." Union representative David Ginisi said, "We want to know exactly what was recorded, how it was done, and who had access." Former city councilor and community activist Wendy Luzon filed a complaint with the state Attorney General, alleging the recording system "appeared to have been controlled exclusively by William Castro." Criminal investigations have been requested from the Essex County DA, the state Attorney General, and the Office of the Inspector General.

No charges have been filed. DePena hasn't resigned. Houten told the council he's "under an order not to divulge certain information" about the investigation, and the council wants to know if there are more hidden cameras in the building.

Lawrence, a city of about 90,000 people in the Merrimack Valley and now over 80% Hispanic, deserves better than this. The people of Lawrence deserve answers.