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

[Omaha Steve]

https://apnews.com/article/pizza-shop-owner-sentenced-threatening-workers-cf33dad0412c3bd07433136953724d68

By STEVE LeBLANC
Updated 2:41 PM CDT, October 28, 2024

BOSTON (AP) — The owner of two Boston-area pizza shops convicted of forced labor for using physical violence and threats of reprisal or deportation against employees living in the country illegally has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

Stavros Papantoniadis, 49, of Westwood — the owner of Stash’s Pizza, a Massachusetts pizzeria chain — was sentenced Friday in federal court to 102 months in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a $35,000 fine.

Papantoniadis forced or attempted to force six victims — five men and one woman — to work for him and comply with excessive workplace demands through violent physical abuse; threats of violence and serious harm; and repeated threats to report the victims to immigration authorities for deportation, according to prosecutors.

In June, a jury convicted Papantoniadis of three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor. Papantoniadis has remained in custody since his arrest in March 2023.

FULL story at link above.