Worcester restaurateur sentenced to six months home confinement for drug money scheme
Photo | Grant Welker
Stacey Gala was convicted for conspiring to use drug money to renovate and run The Chamelon on Shrewsbury.
Stacey Gala, wife of convicted drug dealer and former Worcester restaurateur Kevin Perry, has been sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release for conspiring with her restaurant manager to use drug money to rebrand and run The Chameleon, her former Shrewsbury Street restaurant, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Gala, who is 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in November 2019. Her husband, 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.
After Perry was convicted and the couple’s 166 Shrewsbury St. restaurant, The Usual, was seized by federal authorities in March 2017, Perry and former restaurant manager Joseph Herman conspired to retrieve drug money Perry had hidden in a self-storage locker in Northborough, according to the DOJ.
The pair planned to use the money to renovate and reopen The Usual under a new name, The Chameleon.
Prosecutors had asked for Gala to be sentenced to 32 months in prison, but she instead received time served, according to court documents.
Herman separately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, making false statements to federal investigators and attempted witness tampering, in January 2019, according to the DOJ. He is set to be sentenced on Sept. 29.
All of these crimes forced the closure of five restaurants, including the Blackstone Tap in the Canal District, which Perry owned.
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