Crime

Prosecutors say Stavros Papantoniadis trafficked seven of his employees, all undocumented immigrants, by forcing them to work long hours and threatening to alert authorities if they refused.

The owner of local pizza shop Stash’s Pizza has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for forcing his undocumented immigrant employees to work long hours without pay and without breaks while threatening to tell law enforcement about their immigration status.

In addition to serving eight and a half years in prison, sentencing documents said business owner Stavros Papantoniadis, of Westwood, faces three years of supervised release and must pay a $35,000 fine.

Prosecutors said Papantoniadis designed his businesses to “force victims to work against their will.” Papantoniadis used physical force, threats of violence and threats of deportation to exert control over his workers, prosecutors said.

In Junea jury found Papantoniadis guilty of three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor and acquitted him of one additional count of forced labor. Papantoniadis’ indictment lists seven victims, all of whom were undocumented immigrants who worked at one of the establishments he owned.

“As a result of his criminal conduct, his businesses were successful,” the sentencing document states. “At the same time, the victims lived in fear, working when they didn’t want to and living ever-aware of the physical and legal consequences that the defendant could impose on them. This fear fueled the defendant’s operation.”

Papantoniadis’ methods of abuse

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Papantoniadis intentionally hired undocumented immigrants so he could force them into harsh working conditions without the threat of legal retaliation.

After Papantoniadis was found guilty, Acting US Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy issued a statement detailing how Papantoniadis violated the law and the safety of his employees. In the statement, Levy said Papantoniadis would monitor his employees with security cameras and make them work more than 14 hours a day, seven days in a row.

When one of his workers threatened to quit, according to prosecutors, Papantoniadis choked the victim and forced him to flee.

Papantoniadis committed similar acts of intimidation against other employees who tried to quit, prosecutors said.

“Papantoniadis told one victim he was going to kill him and call immigration authorities; and threatened another worker by telling him he knew where the victim lived,” Levy’s statement read. “When another worker attempted to leave and leave one of Papantoniadis’ pizzerias, Papantoniadis followed the victim down Route 1 in Norwood, Massachusetts, and falsely reported the victim to the local police in an effort to pressure the victim to he goes back to working at the pizzeria.”

Representation for Papantoniadis said The Boston Globe that he did not traffic the victims and instead they wanted to work for him.

“They came to work for him. He’s had hundreds, if not thousands, of employees over 32 years and these people, seven of them, are coming out of the woodwork,” the rep told Papantoniadis. Globe.

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Eva Levin is a general contributor for Boston.com. She covers breaking news and local news from Boston and beyond.

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