Worcester Business Owner Sentenced for Money Laundering Conspiracy

BOSTON – The former owner of two Worcester restaurants was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for conspiring with her restaurant manager to use drug proceeds to renovate and operate her Shrewsbury Street restaurant.  

Stacey Gala, 29, of Worcester, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to time served (one day in prison) and three years of supervised release that will include six months of home confinement. The government recommended a sentence of 32 months in prison. In November 2019, Gala pleaded guilty to an indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Gala owned and operated The Usual Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street beginning in October 2016, along with her husband Kevin Perry. Gala and Perry employed Joseph Herman as the manager of The Usual. In March 2017, federal authorities arrested Perry on charges of money laundering and drug distribution.  

After Perry’s arrest, Gala learned that Perry had concealed a significant amount of drug proceeds at a self-storage locker in Northborough. In May 2017, Gala and Herman conspired to retrieve the drug proceeds and to use them to renovate The Usual restaurant and to re-open the business under a new name (The Chameleon) and ostensibly new management.

In October 2017, Perry pleaded guilty to the money laundering and drug distribution charges and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In January 2019, Herman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, making false statements to federal investigators and attempted witness tampering.  He is presently scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29, 2020.  

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Boston; and Steven M. Sargent, Chief of the Worcester Police Department made the announcement.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg A. Friedholm and John T. Mulcahy of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.