Shrewsbury Street restaurant manager sentenced to 22 months in jail for drug money laundering
Photo | Grant Welker
The Chameleon, a former restaurant on Shrewsbury Street
A manager of a former Worcester restaurant has been sentenced to 22 months in jail followed by a year of supervised release for his role in a money laundering scheme for which he is the latest to receive jail time.
Joseph Herman took part in a laundering scheme run by The Usual's owners, Stacy Gala and Kevin Perry, and then continued the scheme while he ran another restaurant on the same Shrewsbury Street site, The Chameleon. He has pleaded guilty to the charges.
Herman is not contesting the jail sentencing, which took place Friday. In a filing on Monday, his attorneys urged the court to sentence him at a facility close to home.
Herman financed $40,000 in materials and labor to renovate The Usual into The Chameleon using laundered drug money. Laundered money was also used to fund ongoing operations at the restaurant, as well as for Herman's personal expenses, including home repairs and a trip.
Prosecutors have said Herman falsely told the Worcester Licensing Commission he and his relatives funded the work themselves, and later made false statements to federal investigators. He tried persuading a fellow defendant, Christopher Slavinskas, to lie to a grand jury.
Prosecutors asked for 34 months in jail and three years of supervised release for Herman.
Herman will be the latest to be sentenced in the laundering case.
Gala, Perry's wife, was sentenced in September to six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. Perry was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to money laundering, aggravated cash structuring, lying on a loan application and distributing fentanyl. Slavinskas, who pleaded guilty to making false statements, was given two years probation and required to complete community service.
The Shrewsbury Street property was seized by the federal government and then sold to the owner of Meze Greek Tapas, which opened Meze Estiatorio there last year.
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