BOSTON (WHDH) - The owner of a pizza chain with multiple Boston-area locations is set to appear in court Monday on a federal forced labor charge amid accusations that he abused an employee and threatened to report the employee’s immigration status, according to the the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Stavros Papantoniadis, 47, of Westwood owns Stash’s Pizza with locations in Dorchester and Roslindale.
Homeland Security investigators said Papantoniadis targeted employees who lacked immigration status.
Officials said one unnamed victim, who worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week at the restaurant in Dorchester was afraid of Papantoniadis and once cried when he was kicked in the groin.
Investigators said Papantoniadis also knocked the man’s teeth out.
“Victim 1 missed a day of work. The next day, Papantoniadis pushed him and caused him to fall to the floor. Papantoniadis then called Victim 1 an ‘[Expletive] Muslim,’” court paperwork said of one incident.
While Papantoniadis currently owns the Dorchester and Roslindale Stash’s locations, officials said he formerly owned other pizza shops in Norwell, Norwood, Randolph, Weymouth and Wareham
The charge against Papantoniadis carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to 5 years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 if he is convicted.
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