Suspended Lawrence police chief paid $210K salary to stay home

Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña raised eyebrows when he named William Castro as the city's acting police chief in October 2023.

Castro was the mayor's chief of staff and previously worked two decades a correctional officer for the Essex County Sheriff's Department.

"There was great concern considering his background wasn't in policing," said Chris Ryan, president of the New England Police Benevolent Association, which represents both the supervisors and patrolmen police unions in Lawrence.

Months later, the Massachusetts POST Commission suspended Castro's certification after he engaged in the vehicle chase of a suspect who was wanted for writing a bad check, according to the law enforcement oversight agency.

The suspension order from POST said the chase violated department policies and accused Castro of being untruthful in his report about the incident. The commission also said it had received "credible reports" about questionable hiring practices during Castro's tenure.

City leaders placed Castro on paid administrative leave following the suspension order. Since then, payroll records the NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained show the provisional police chief has continued to collect his $210,000 salary.

"It's a slap in the face to not only me, but everybody that works for the city," said James Miele, a retired City of Lawrence employee. "When you have a guy on suspension getting paid triple digits to stay home and not do anything."

Along with our colleagues at Telemundo, we sat down with DePeña to ask why the police chief uncertainty drags on nearly a year later.

While acknowledging the situation can be frustrating to taxpayers, DePeña said the scenario is standard practice when public employees face allegations of misconduct.

"When a person is suspended or under an investigation, until he is found guilty, his salary has to be maintained," DePeña said in Spanish. "It's a normal practice to avoid lawsuits."

We learned the city retained Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting (CIC) to conduct the independent probe into Castro. The investigation was carried out by Daniel Bennett, the state's former secretary of public safety.

According to an "order to appear" letter sent to Castro, the investigative firm intended to question him about the vehicle pursuit, unethical hiring practices, along with alleged intimidation and retaliation.

Bennett's report was complete last October.

However, DePeña said he ordered a second investigation with a different firm to show that the city is thoroughly investigating the situation, especially considering his close relationship with a former chief of staff.

The mayor told us he is keeping his distance from the investigation and asked residents to remain patient with the process.

"Like never before, I'm staying on the sidelines," DePeña said. "I'm deeply concerned with transparency."

Ryan, the president of the NEPBA, sees it a different way.

"I think it's the opposite of transparency," he said. "Citizens in Lawrence should be outraged with what's going on right now at City Hall."

Local police union leaders have been fighting for months to get a copy of the completed CIC investigative report. On multiple occasions, the city denied the request.

The unions then appealed to the public records division at the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, which ordered the city to provide the document by Jan. 7.

As of this publication, the report still hasn't been released. We spoke to the city attorney earlier this week, who said redactions to the report were being made and awaiting sign-off from the mayor.

NBC10 Boston also has a pending public records request for the costs of the two different independent investigations.

This is part of our series, "Commonwealth Confidential: State of Policing." Learn much more on police in Massachusetts here.

The top law enforcement position in Lawrence has not been cheap for taxpayers in recent years.

In 2023, former police chief Roy Vasque took an early retirement and reached a $780,000 settlement with the city after he had been placed on paid administrative leave.

Now, while Castro collects his six-figure salary, acting Chief Melix Bonilla also is receiving $200,000 to fill the role in his place.

That means residents have shelled out more than $1 million for the police chief position in the past two years.

"It is complete taxpayer waste," Ryan said. "The citizens deserve better and the officers deserve better."