Boston pizzeria chain owner charged with assaulting, threatening immigrant employee

A Boston-area pizzeria chain proprietor has been arrested on federal expenses that he bodily assaulted and verbally abused an immigrant worker for a interval of about 14 years, authorities introduced Thursday. 

Stavros Papantoniadis, 47, was apprehended Thursday morning on one rely of pressured labor, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Massachusetts stories. The Stash’s Pizza proprietor, who goes by Steve, focused undocumented employees and underpaid them, prosecutors stated. 

In a press release, U.S. Legal professional Rachael Rollins described the allegations towards Papantoniadis as “horrific.” 

“No person has the precise to violently kick, slap, punch or choke anybody, and positively not an employer to an worker,” Rollins stated. “This case illustrates the manipulative, violent and abusive techniques some employers make the most of for their very own greed and monetary achieve.”

The Justice Division stated he created a local weather of worry at his chain of pizzarias, which has places in Dorchester and Roslindale, Massachusetts. Papantoniadis beforehand had pizzerias in Norwood, Norwell, Randolph, Weymouth and Wareham.

The sufferer, recognized in charging paperwork as “Sufferer 1,” labored for Papantoniadis from 2001 to 2015, officers stated. Over that span, Papantoniadis pushed the worker to the ground, kicked him within the genitals and broke his tooth on completely different events, the Justice Division stated. He additionally slapped and choked the sufferer, prosecutors allege, and repeatedly made derogatory feedback in regards to the man’s spiritual religion. 

Papantoniadis threatened to kill the worker or report him to immigration authorities if he did not return to work, prosecutors stated, prompting the sufferer to proceed working for Papantoniadis. 

When a unique worker deliberate to stop, Papantoniadis made a false police report in regards to the employee, who was later pulled over and cited by police, in line with prosecutors. 

Papantoniadis additionally demanded his staff work six to seven days per week, federal investigators discovered, and infrequently labored greater than eight hours per day with out breaks or extra time pay. 

If convicted, Papantoniadis faces a most sentence of 20 years in jail and a positive of as much as $250,000. The pizzeria proprietor appeared in court docket on Thursday morning and stays in custody pending a detention listening to set for March 20.