A pizza shop owner is sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for threatening workers with deportation

The proprietor of 2 Boston-area pizza shops convicted of forced labour for utilizing beingness unit and threats of reprisal aliases deportation against labor surviving successful nan state illegally has been sentenced to much than 8 years successful prison

BOSTON -- The proprietor of 2 Boston-area pizza shops convicted of forced labour for utilizing beingness unit and threats of reprisal aliases deportation against labor surviving successful nan state illegally has been sentenced to much than 8 years successful prison.

Stavros Papantoniadis, 49, of Westwood — nan proprietor of Stash’s Pizza, a Massachusetts pizzeria concatenation — was sentenced Friday successful national tribunal to 102 months successful prison, 1 twelvemonth of supervised merchandise and ordered to salary a $35,000 fine.

Papantoniadis forced aliases attempted to unit six victims — 5 men and 1 female — to activity for him and comply pinch excessive workplace demands done convulsive beingness abuse; threats of unit and superior harm; and repeated threats to study nan victims to migration authorities for deportation, according to prosecutors.

In June, a assemblage convicted Papantoniadis of 3 counts of forced labour and 3 counts of attempted forced labor. Papantoniadis has remained successful custody since his apprehension successful March 2023.

A lawyer for Papantoniadis said he's pursuing a caller proceedings and an appeal.

“Although nan judge saw fresh to condemnation him somewhat beneath nan guidelines, we are disappointed successful nan magnitude of nan sentence,” Carmine Lepore said successful an email. “The sentencing guidelines applicable to this lawsuit are much due for quality traffickers and intersexual servitude defendants.”

Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said Papantoniadis was driven by greed to prey connected his workers.

“Labor trafficking exploits nan susceptible done fearfulness and intimidation, each successful pursuit of nan almighty buck. That is what Stavros Papantoniadis did erstwhile he violated nan authorities of nan group moving successful his restaurants," Levy said.

"He deliberately hired overseas nationals who lacked authorization to activity successful nan United States and past turned their deficiency of migration position against them, threatening them pinch deportation and unit to support them nether his control,” he added.

Papantoniadis thinly staffed his pizza shops, and deliberately hired workers without migration position to activity down nan scenes, for 14 aliases much hours per time and arsenic galore arsenic 7 days per week, investigators said.

To power nan undocumented workers, he made them judge that he would physically harm them aliases person them deported and monitored them pinch surveillance cameras. When Papantoniadis learned that 1 unfortunate planned to quit, he choked him, causing that unfortunate to fly nan pizza shop.

When different worker tried to time off and thrust distant from 1 of Papantoniadis’ pizza shops, Papantoniadis chased nan unfortunate down Route 1 successful Norwood, Massachusetts, and falsely reported nan unfortunate to nan section constabulary to unit nan unfortunate to return to activity astatine nan pizza shop, prosecutors said.