https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2021/01/18/herman-ordered-forfeit-200-k-worcester-restaurant-money-laundering-case/4204291001/

WORCESTER — A federal judge has ordered Joseph Herman to pay back $200,000, part of the amount he and other defendants laundered through a local restaurant as part of a drug money scheme, court records show.

In an order filed in U.S. District Court in Worcester last week, District Judge Timothy Hillman wrote “at least” that amount was laundered through The Usual, later renamed The Chameleon, a restaurant on Shrewsbury Street, which Herman managed.

The establishment was owned by convicted drug dealer Kevin Perry Jr., whose wife, Stacey Gala, was also involved; authorities say Herman and Gala conspired to use laundered money from Perry’s fentanyl sales to reopen the restaurant as The Chameleon in 2017.

Perry was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2018 after admitting to using drug money to finance restaurants the city.

Herman was sentenced to 22 months in prison in The Usual case in November. Gala was sentenced to six months of home confinement in September, but is still awaiting a court order determining how much money she will have to forfeit.

According to authorities, Perry stashed $280,000 in drug sales in a self-storage facility in Northboro; he told Gala, whom he married in 2015, about the money, who then told Herman.

Herman and an accomplice, Christopher Slavinskas, took the money from the facility in May of 2017; they each split $80,000, with the rest going to the renovation and rebranding of the restaurant.

Gala also gave Herman another $300,000, which Slavinskas hid at a Lincoln Street church.

Slavinskas was sentenced to two years of probation last February for his role in the scheme.

Herman, who was also expecting an ownership stake in The Chameleon, allegedly used some of the money to buy a car for his wife, renovate his home, buy cocaine, and fund a trip to Atlantic City with Slavinskas and two women.

According to a document filed in federal court last week, Herman already issued a check for $11,000 to the U.S. Marshals back in June. That money, which could be traced to the restaurant scheme, is now subject to the forfeiture order, the filing says.