The proprietor of a pizza company in the Boston region was given a sentence of more than eight years in jail for forcing undocumented victims to work for him under harsh circumstances, including threats of deportation and serious physical abuse.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts, Stavros Papantoniadis, 49, the owner of Stash’s Pizza, a chain of pizzerias in Roslindale and Dorchester, had seriously mistreated six of his illegal employees.
“Papantoniadis forced or attempted to force five men and one woman to work for him through violent physical abuse, threats of abuse, and repeated threats to report victims to immigration authorities to have them deported,” the release stated.
Prosecutors claimed he deliberately hired undocumented workers to work in his understaffed pizzerias for up to seven days a week, putting them through exhausting 14-hour or longer periods.
Additionally, he “constantly demeaned, insulted, and harassed them,” according to the release, and kept an eye on them using security cameras.
According to officials, he “made them believe that he would physically harm them or have them deported” in order to maintain control over them.
Violence occasionally resulted from that mistreatment. One victim fled the pizza place and ran to the parking lot after Papantoniadis “violently choked him” after learning that he intended to resign.
According to the prosecution, Papantoniadis chased the victim down Route 1 in Norwood after another attempted to drive away and forced the victim to return to work at the shop by phonily reporting the victim to the police.
“Papantoniadis told one victim that he would kill him and call immigration authorities; and he threatened another worker by telling him he knew where the victim lived.”
Prior to this case, Papantoniadis was under investigation for his labor abuses; he was arrested in March 2023. In June, a jury trial found him guilty of three charges of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor.
According to authorities, Papantoniadis was given a sentence of 102 months in prison, a year of supervised release, and a $35,000 fine on Friday.
Lepore stated that his lawyers are seeking a fresh trial and an appeal, adding that the sentencing guidelines that apply in this case are more suitable for individuals involved in human trafficking and sexual servitude.
“He deliberately hired foreign nationals who lacked authorization to work in the United States and then turned their lack of immigration status against them, threatening them with deportation and violence to keep them under his control,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy stated. “I commend the bravery of the victims here for speaking out and taking a stand against their trafficker.”
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According to Levy, the “stiff sentence” is evidence that “employers who engage in this type of conduct face grave consequences.”
Papantoniadis’s punishment is merely the most recent in a series of grievances against labor conditions at his companies. In the past, he operated pizzerias in Randolph, Norwood, Norwell, Weymouth, and Wareham.
In March 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Stash’s Pizza, Boston Pizza Co., Weymouth Pizza Co., and their owners, Stavros “Steve” and Polyxeny “Paulina” Papantoniadis, claiming that they had falsified time records, misrepresented pay rates, and failed to pay 120 employees the proper overtime.
The business owners were forced to pay over $300,000 in unpaid wages in 2019. According to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Stash’s Pizza has been the subject of three complaints since 2019 regarding identical wage and hour infractions.
