BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts state representative charged with using tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash for golf club dues, casino trips and other personal expenses has resigned from key legislative committees.

Democratic Rep. David Nangle was a member of the House Committee on Ethics and the House Committee on Rules. He was also a member of House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s leadership team.

“Due to recent, unfortunate events I believe it would be in the interests of the House of Representatives that I step down from my leadership position and committee assignments,” Nangle wrote in a statement addressed to DeLeo and filed with the House clerk on Wednesday.


“It has been an extreme honor to serve you, my colleagues and the citizens of the Commonwealth in my position as Division Floor Leader,” Nangle added, referring to his leadership position.

Nangle’s decision comes a day after he was arrested at his Lowell home. Nangle represents parts of Lowell and Chelmsford.

He pleaded not guilty later Tuesday and was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

Investigators said Nangle faces federal charges including wire and bank fraud for spending more than $70,000 in campaign funds to bankroll his personal debts and sustain his gambling habit.

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said the allegations reveal “a systematic pattern of theft and fraud going back to at least 2014.”

Nangle’s lawyer, William Connolly, said in an email Tuesday that they will fight the allegations in court. Nangle has served in the Legislature for more than 20 years.

Nangle, 59, was an extensive gambler who owed tens of thousands of dollars in debt, authorities said in court documents. Meanwhile, he managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaigns even though he hasn’t had an opponent since 2012.

Nangle used that cash to pay for golf club dues, rental cars to travel to casinos, and flowers for his girlfriend, among other things, prosecutors said. He also used campaign funds to cover hotel and restaurant charges, some of which he was already being reimbursed for by the state, officials say.


Nangle owed tens of thousands of dollars to several restaurant owners and spent thousands of dollars of campaign cash at the owners’ restaurants “as a means of appeasing his lenders,” according to the indictment.

Lelling said Nangle deceived state officials by using an acquaintance as a “straw campaign vendor,” whom he paid to provide fake services to his campaigns. Nangle is also accusing of lying to a bank to obtain more than $300,000 in loans, and filing false tax returns with fake deductions allowing him to show no taxable income.

DeLeo said Tuesday he was shocked to learn of Nangle’s indictment, calling him a friend and colleague.

“The allegations against Representative Nangle are serious and troubling and, if true, represent a significant betrayal of the public trust,” DeLeo said in a statement.

DeLeo said the Massachusetts House cooperated with a subpoena from Lelling’s office requesting records related to the federal grand jury investigation.