Former Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña became the center of a fast-moving online storm after a viral clip showed his lawyer brushing off reporters and saying the mayor does not speak English. The moment landed just as DePeña was facing serious federal fraud charges tied to pandemic relief money, and the reaction online was immediate, loud, and unforgiving.
DePeña, 61, was arrested Friday morning after investigators said more than $1.5 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans, or EIDL, may have been misused. The program was created under the CARES Act to help struggling businesses survive the COVID-19 shock, which made the allegations feel especially ugly to a lot of people watching the case unfold.
In the now widely shared exchange, the lawyer told reporters, “He doesn’t speak English. No comment,” while DePeña stood nearby smiling and saying, “God bless you,” over and over. That short clip did most of the damage on its own, turning a legal defense into a public relations firestorm in a matter of hours.
The internet did what it always does when a clip hits the nerve. People piled on, questioned the explanation, and treated the scene like a symbol of everything messy and broken about local politics, especially when the person in the spotlight is already under a cloud of suspicion.
“OMG,” conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok in a post viewed over 1 million times. “How is this real.”
“‘He doesn’t speak English, no comment’ says the assistant of the mayor of an American city,” conservative radio host Mike Gallagher . “Our melting pot has completely melted.”
DePeña’s background only added more fuel. Born in the Dominican Republic, he was elected mayor of Lawrence in November 2021 and later won re-election in November 2025, after serving on the city council from 2016 to 2021. He has also previously said he once came to the United States “without papers” before later becoming a U.S. citizen.
That history became part of the larger conversation as critics argued that the episode said a lot about leadership, trust, and basic expectations for elected officials. For some commentators, the issue was not only the alleged fraud, but the optics of a mayor facing questions through a lawyer who shut the whole thing down with a language excuse.
“English fluency should be a basic prerequisite for holding public office,” journalist Miranda Devine
“This is what happens when we not only import the third world, but elect the third world,” Texas Republican congressional candidate Jace Yarbrough . “Why is an unassimilated foreigner a mayor in America?”
As the online backlash kept building, another wrinkle made the story even more shareable. Social media users began circulating what appeared to be video showing the car DePeña left in after allegedly crashing into another parked car while trying to drive away, which only deepened the sense of chaos around the whole episode.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2088825112132825445?s=20
Meanwhile, the federal case itself remains the serious part underneath the viral noise. Prosecutors say the mayor used pandemic relief funds meant to support a tire shop to pay campaign expenses and personal debts, and U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said he “betrayed” the trust of the people who elected him.
“Mayor DePeña was elected to be a leader for the City of Lawrence,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said. “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.”
If convicted, DePeña faces up to 30 years in prison. Fox News Digital reached out to DePeña’s lawyer, Carlos Apostle, for comment.
Shortly after the exchange with reporters, users on social media appearing to show the car DePeña left in after crashing into another parked car while attempting to drive away.
