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Joseph Herman, 37, was sentenced on Friday, Nov. 20, by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to 22 months in prison and one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. States Attorney’s Office, Massachusetts. He will also forfeit an undetermined amount of money in the future.
Herman was the last of three defendants charged in connection with the money-laundering scheme to be sentenced.
Herman admitted to a plan to use profits generated by his business partner’s drug-dealing husband, Kevin A. Perry, Jr., to start a new restaurant on Shrewsbury Street in 2017. The business partner, and Perry’s wife, is Stacey Gala.
Herman used to work for Perry and Gala as manager of The Usual, a Worcester restaurant the couple owned and operated.
When Perry was arrested in 2017, Gala and Herman conspired to use Perry’s drug money to renovate The Usual and change its name to The Chameleon. To make this happen, Herman lied to federal investigators about the source of the funds and tried to get a witness to lie about his involvement in the money-laundering scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
In 2017, Perry pleaded guilty to money laundering and drug dealing and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In September, Gala was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the U.S. States Attorney’s Office said.
Herman pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit money laundering, making false statements to federal investigators, and attempted witness tampering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Among the agencies that investigated, arrested, and prosecuted Herman were the U.S. States Attorney’s Office, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Worcester Police.
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