Appeals Court Upholds Pizzeria Owner’s Forced Labor Conviction

A pizzeria owner convicted and sentenced to 102 months in prison for forcing undocumented immigrants to work in the kitchens at his pizza shops couldn’t convince a federal appeals court he should have a new trial.

Stavros Papantoniadis failed to show there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction, Judge Julie Rikelman of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said Wednesday. In affirming the district court’s conviction and sentence, Rikelman rejected his claims that the district court impermissibly admitted certain evidence, denied his requests for a longer trial, and wrongly calculated his sentence.

“The jury could have ...