Former Wareham Pizzeria Owner Sentenced on Forced Labor Charges

BOSTON (WBSM) — The owner of a Massachusetts pizza chain that formerly had a location in Wareham has been sentenced to more than eight years in state prison after he was convicted last summer of forced labor violations.

Stavros “Steve” Papantoniadis, 49, of Westwood was sentenced to 102 months in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a $35,000 fine. This comes after Papantoniadis was convicted in June of three counts of forced labor and three counts of attempted forced labor.

Papantoniadis, who owns the Stash’s Pizza chain, has remained in custody since his arrest on March 16, 2023.

Stash’s has locations in Dorchester and Roslindale, and previously had pizzerias in Norwood, Norwell, Randolph (which did business as Boston Pizza Company), Weymouth (doing business as Pacini’s Italian Eatery), and in Wareham/Onset.

“Labor trafficking exploits the vulnerable through fear and intimidation, all in pursuit of the almighty buck. That is what Stavros Papantoniadis did when he violated the rights of the people working in his restaurants,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy.

“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," Levy said.

For more than a decade, 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. He had them working as much as 14 hours a day for as many as seven days a week.

He also violently choked one of the employees upon learning the victim planned to quit, causing the victim to flee the shop. Other employees who threatened to quit were told that Papantoniadis “would kill” them or call immigration authorities; he threatened another by telling him he knew where the victim lived. He also chased another employee down Route 1 in Norwood and falsely reported the victim to local police to try to pressure the victim into returning to work at the shop.

“I commend the bravery of the victims here for speaking out and taking a stand against their trafficker. I hope that their strength to speak out sends a message to others whose rights are being abused that the federal government will not tolerate labor trafficking,” Levy said. “The stiff sentence imposed on Mr. Papantoniadis demonstrates that there are grave consequences for employers who engage in this type of conduct.”