The owner of a Massachusetts pizza chain was sentenced this week to eight years in prison after being found guilty of threatening his employees with violence and deportation, federal authorities said.
Stavros Papantoniadis was found guilty Monday on three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor. According to the Department of Justice, Papantoniadis staffed his shops with illegal immigrants, forcing them to work long hours and threatening them with deportation if they refused.
“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 U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. “I commend the bravery of the victims here for speaking out and taking a stand against their trafficker.”
Six of Papantoniadis’ employees spoke out against their former employer, accusing him of constantly harassing them with threats of deportation if they refused to work their shifts or indicated they wished to quit. According to court documents, Papantoniadis threatened to kill one of his employees if he quit and violently choked another.
Papantoniadis intentionally hired less staff than necessary at his pizza restaurants, forcing some of his undocumented employees to work between 84 and 119 hours per week. Papantoniadis enforced his grueling work schedules with intensive surveillance, according to prosecutors.
Papantoniadis’ attorney, Steven Boozang, argued that the accusations leveled against his client were suspicious since he hadn’t had any issues with the hundreds of other employees he’d hired over his three-decade-long career.
According to Mr. Boozand, the employees who accused Papantoniadis of forced labor asked to work longer hours, and Papantoniadis gave them $17 an hour pay.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.