Thursday, March 30, 2023

This Stash guy is SUCH bad news

A while back, my local pizza spot got in trouble for cheating its workers out of overtime. I can't recall all the details, but it was along the lines of promoting workers - often undocumented immigrants - to fake management positions so that they didn't need to pay them overtime. 

Anyway, for a short while, I didn't have a local pizza spot, but the place got new owners and it's all good. (Pizza included.) 

But there's a new pizza scandal brewing in Boston, and it makes the Upper Crust issues of yesteryear look like big nothing. 

Once again, the case involves exploiting undocumented immigrants, but the owner of Stash's Pizza - Stavros “Steve”
Papantoniadis - didn't stop at screwing workers out of wages.

Sure, there was plenty of that. 

In court filings, it's alleged that "Victim 1", a fellow from North Africa, worked as many as 119 hours a week for straight-time pay. He also had to endure Papantoniadis insulting him for his Muslim religion. And then: 
Papantoniadis “in or around” 2007 allegedly kicked the man in his genitals with such force that he needed surgery, according to the affidavit, which said the man had a catheter implanted and that the pain continued to bother him until at least 2021.
At other times, the man alleged, Papantoniadis struck him in the face, choked him, broke his glasses, and “broke his upper and lower teeth,” forcing the man to get dentures, the affidavit said. Records indicate the man “lost or had all of his teeth extracted” in 2008, according to the filing. (Source: Boston Globe)

(Medical records verify that this man's teeth were removed, but don't tie the extraction to the abuse.)

Other victims were similarly deprived of overtime, had to put up with plenty of insults, and had to endure threats around their immigration status. There were sexual harassment, death threats.

One of the other victims:

...told investigators Papantoniadis would mention the immigration status of undocumented workers whenever they requested time off and would end such talks by saying, “[Expletive] immigrants, I’m not here for you.”

Another victim worked 365 days without a day off.

This isn't Papantoniadis's first run-in with respect to wage violations. 
He and Polyxeny “Paulina” Papantoniadis [in 2019] agreed to pay $330,000 in back wages and other damages to 150 current and former employees, DOL said at the time.

But wait, there's more. (There's always more.)

(Separate court filings in Suffolk Superior Court indicate that Papantoniadis pleaded guilty in 1998 to motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury or death. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail with one year to serve and the balance suspended, records show.)

And he supposedly his having served time to add street-cred oomph to the threats he made to his workers.  

Back to that alleged “[Expletive] immigrants, I’m not here for you” comment.

Want to bet that if Stavros/Steve and Polyxeny/Paulina aren't themselves immigrant, then their parents were. Just bettin'...

But wait, there's more. (There's always more.)

A tenant who rented a flat in a three-decker owned by Papantoniadis claims that he was wrongly evicted because of making complaints about leaks and a broken toilet. 

That may not be illegal in any criminal sense, but it helps paint the picture of what a colossal POS this Stash guy is. 

When last I saw, Papantoniadis was in custody, and, if found guilty, looking at up to 20 years in prison and a hefty fine. 

Even if only half of these allegations are true, it'll serve him right.  

 

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