Copyright NBC10 Boston
On a January night in 2023, surveillance video shows Petros Sismanis walking with a 16-year-old employee down a hallway toward a supply closet in the basement of his business, Hillers Pizza in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. As they approach the door to the closet, the girl glances up directly at the cameras positioned on the ceiling. During a criminal trial in Framingham District Court, the teenager testified about what happened once they disappeared from the camera's view. "[Sismanis] grabbed my waist, stood up and wrapped his hands around me, and kissed me," the girl told jurors. "I started to just spiral, but I also knew that I was in a closet alone with a man larger than me. There was nothing I could really do. There was nowhere for me to go." As Sismanis and the girl reappear several minutes later and walk toward the elevator, the video shows the 55-year-old business owner rubbing his employee's back. Once they arrive at the ground floor in the lobby area of the commercial building, the pair walks in separate directions back into the restaurant. But not before Sismanis makes a parting comment. "He told me I couldn't tell anybody," the girl testified. "Nothing was to be said about it." After serving a few customers, the video shows the girl calling her mother to tell her what happened. She then retreats to the restaurant bathroom, where she said she was "bawling my eyes out." The teen's mother left her nursing shift and drove to the pizza shop to pick up her daughter. Surveillance video shows Sismanis follow them outside to their vehicle. At the trial, the mother described what happened next. "We started to get into the car and he started grabbing the door and saying, 'Just kill me. It was a mistake. What can I do to fix it?' There was a host of pleas that he was kind of running through, one after another," the mother testified. In the video, Sismanis stands in the parking lot and blocks the path of the vehicle to prevent it from leaving the parking lot. The business owner is also seen clasping his hands and leaning against the hood. The standoff lasts until the mother calls Hopkinton police and officers arrive at the business. Sismanis was charged with indecent assault and witness intimidation. At the criminal trial last June, it took a jury less than 30 minutes to deliberate and find Sismanis guilty. During the sentencing, the victim's mother read a statement on behalf of her daughter. "Mr. Sismanis, you are a horrific, hurtful person. Your actions not only impacted me, but so many others over the years," the mother said. "Unfortunately, many of them just gave up and didn't stand up to you and your inappropriate behavior." Business owner was convicted sex offender Is that true? Were there other victims over the years? The NBC10 Boston Investigators reviewed years of court and town records, uncovering a troubling pattern of behavior in Hopkinton. Marie Laskowsky, a resident of neighboring Ashland, started paying attention when she read an article in the local newspaper about the assault of the teen worker. Laskowsky, who has volunteered in Hopkinton and was familiar with Hillers Pizza, told NBC10 Boston she is a survivor of sexual abuse. "[The story] landed on my heart," Laskowsky said. Following Sismanis' conviction last summer, Laskowsky and her friend, Elissa McGinty, picketed outside the pizza shop. "As a parent, I was appalled," McGinty said. "I have a teenage daughter, and I just found the story to be shocking." However, as the pair would learn from the whispers of residents who passed by their protest, the details would only get more shocking from there. That's because court records show that two decades earlier, Sismanis was indicted for raping a 55-year-old woman and for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old college student. According to the Middlesex Superior Court case NBC10 Boston reviewed, both victims were employees of Sismanis. And both incidents happened inside the business owner's Jelly Donut shop in Hopkinton. In 1998, Sismanis pleaded guilty to indecent assault and battery and had to register as a sex offender, according to court records. "I was disgusted," Laskowsky said. "I was disgusted as to how an individual with that type of record was ever able to achieve a business license in the town of Hopkinton." Laskowsky and other concerned residents started speaking out at town meetings last August. They also searched the internet for social media posts, showing how Hillers Pizza made a footprint on the Hopkinton landscape. Multiple posts show the restaurant hosting dinners for high school sports teams. Other posts illustrate how the restaurant partnered with the police department on charity fundraisers like the sales of pink patches for breast cancer awareness. "[Sismanis] groomed the community, and he was very, very good at it," Laskowsky said. Police reports raise questions about history of complaints Behind the scenes, police reports the NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained tell a different story. In 2017, an unidentified person showed up at the pizza shop to confront Sismanis about "accusations." Police asked a female employee if she wanted to speak with a detective, according to the report's narrative. The same year, a Middlesex County prosecutor said charges could be pursued for providing alcohol to a minor and assault. NBC10 Boston could find no record of a criminal case in that timeframe. Overall, the 100-plus pages of documents released by Hopkinton police in response to a public records request were heavily redacted, making it difficult to ascertain the context or allegations of the various reports. NBC10 Boston is currently challenging the town's response before the state's Supervisor of Public Records. While researching Sismanis' history, NBC10 Boston also tracked down Christina Cuevas, who worked at Hillers Pizza in 2016 when she was 24 years old. In a written statement Cuevas provided, she described how the business owner would inappropriately touch her and other female employees. On one night at the end of her shift, Cuevas recalled how Sismanis said he wanted to show her where the dumpster was behind the restaurant. Cuevas said she was already aware of the location, but the business owner insisted. Once outside, Cuevas said Sismanis closed the door and she remembered it being very dark. "He pulled me close in for a hug and it felt like he was hoping to kiss me. His breath smelled of alcohol," Cuevas wrote in her statement. "I asked if we could please go back inside and luckily, he let me. I remember being very scared and uncomfortable." Cuevas said she quit the restaurant job and filed a report with the Hopkinton Police Department in late 2016. There is a report that matches the timeframe, but all of the details are blacked out. At the time, Cuevas said police told her they had received a couple of other complaints from other females, but needed more to move forward with a case. "I blame Hopkinton police for not taking action sooner," Cuevas said. "It's been almost 10 years since I filed my report, so God knows what has happened since then." Why didn't town leaders take action? In January 2018, Sismanis and his attorney met with the Hopkinton Select Board behind closed doors at an executive session. Town leaders asked the business owner about complaints filed with the police department, according to minutes of the discussion. "It was stated that the Board has been clear with license holders that they are held to high standard, and the behavior alleged is unacceptable," the minutes said. "Mr. Sismanis repeated that none of the allegations are true." That is the closest example NBC10 Boston could find of the town ever considering action against the license of Hillers Pizza. During the annual license renewal process, various town departments are asked for any feedback about the licensee. There is no record of Hopkinton police ever raising questions about Sismanis' ability to operate the pizza shop, even when he was a registered sex offender. After the criminal charges in 2023, town leaders still did not take any action against the license. Will town leaders make changes? For more than two weeks, NBC10 Boston has emailed, called and also stopped by the police department in Hopkinton to request an interview with Chief Joseph Bennett, who has been the top cop since 2020 and with the force for more than three decades. Bennett has yet to respond. However, residents are demanding answers. "The fact that the head of our public safety allowed this is unacceptable," said a resident during the public comment portion of an October select board meeting. Joseph Clark, the chair of the Hopkinton Select Board, and other new members inherited the controversy and are now discussing things like more rigorous background checks for all businesses in town that require a license to operate. In the past, criminal and sex offender background checks were only performed for new businesses that would be seeking permission to sell alcohol. Moving forward, those checks will now be performed for all license applications, including renewals. Hillers Pizza did not sell alcohol. NBC10 Boston asked Clark if he and other town leaders should have known more about Sismanis' history. "It's tough to look back and be a Monday morning quarterback," Clark said. "But we have to make sure we're doing something if we possibly can avoid it again." Convicted ex-business owner now in ICE custody While Sismanis served his jail sentence in the Middlesex House of Corrections, his wife notified town leaders that the family would be closing the business. The Hopkinton pizza shop is now under a new owner and a new name. Sismanis is a Greek citizen who has been in the United States since the late 1980s, according to court records. Last month, NBC10 Boston learned that Sismanis was released from jail into ICE custody. He is currently being held at a detention facility in Rhode Island and awaiting immigration proceedings. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, DHS is enforcing the law. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.," said Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of public affairs with the Department of Homeland Security. Regardless of what happens with Sismanis' fate, people like Laskowsky are determined not to let the story fade away. "There are so many community members that were aware of his history and didn't give a damn," Laskowsky said. "That ends here. That ends now."
