Stavros “Steve” Papantoniadis, 47, of Westwood, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States is the owner and the operator of Stash’s Pizza, which is based in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The chain of pizzerias has locations in Boston’s Dorchester and Roslindale.

For more than 10 years, Papantoniadis allegedly underpaid, physically abused and threatened employees. He allegedly withheld wages, targeted victims who lacked immigration status and employed them at depressed wages.

According to the victims, Papantoniadis demanded that they work six to seven days per week in most cases. At times, the victims were asked to work for far more than eight hours per day with no and no overtime compensation. 

One of the victims is a male employee who worked at Stash’s Pizza from 2001 to 2015. Papantoniadis allegedly made derogatory comments about the employee’s religion and violently attacked the employee several times. 

On one occasion, Papantoniadis allegedly kicked the employee in the genital and the employee sought medical treatment after suffering severe pain. Papantoniadis allegedly threatened to kill the employee or report the employee to immigration authorities if he did not return to work.

The employee feared Papantoniadis and kept working for him at Stash’s Pizza. When another employee intended to quit, Papantoniadis allegedly made a false police report, falsely stating that the employee had hit his car and left the scene of the accident after leaving Stash’s Pizza in Norwood.

On March 16, 2023, Papantoniadis was arrested and arraigned in federal court in Boston on a charge of one count of forced labor. At 11:30 a.m. on March 20, 2023, he will attend a detention hearing.