A letter sent to the Select Board by an attorney representing 77 West Main Street owner and landlord Paul Mastroianni last week is stark in its warning: If the board moves forward with an investigation into Mastroianni regarding private financial matters related to Crust & Co. or Hillers Pizza, his client will “exercise all of his rights and remedies under state and federal law.”

The letter from Shawn Masterson of Cohen Cleary follows a public hearing on Oct. 7 regarding the common victualer’s (CV) license for Crust & Co. The restaurant opened its doors before its inspection requirements were met, violating the conditions agreed on by the Select Board when it approved the CV. As a result of the public hearing, the board issued a $1,000 fine to the business.

During that hearing, members of the public came forward to offer testimony. Individuals representing a coalition of concerned residents presented documents to the Select Board regarding Hillers Pizza and made claims that there were remaining financial ties between Mastroianni, Ryan Dion — the owner of Crust & Co. — and Petros “Peter” Sismanis.

Sismanis, the former owner of Hillers Pizza, is serving jail time after being convicted of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age and two counts of witness intimidation. Dion bought out Hillers’ lease and equipment at 77 West Main Street after Mastroianni let the Sismanis family out of its lease.

“Over the past few months, I have witnessed … Sismanis and his family maneuver to resurrect [Hillers Pizza] through entity shifts, paper shuffles and UCC filings that seem designed to funnel funds and shield assets from his crushing debt,” alleged Marie Laskowsky during the Oct. 7 hearing. Laskowsky is an Ashland resident who previously campaigned for Hillers Pizza to close following Sismanis’ conviction in June.

Added Laskowsky: “Unmask the financial flow; our community insists upon it.”

These claims prompted a discussion over the Select Board’s authority to investigate any alleged financial ties further — a discussion at which Masteron’s letter takes aim.

“Simply, the public comment followed by the pomp and circumstance of the board’s discussion of inquiry into business dealings between Hillers Pizza, Inc. and my client borders on harassment,” the letter states. “The board has no authority to act in the way it has suggested it proceed.”

Masterson’s letter goes on to call the comments allowed by the Select Board as “baseless, irrelevant and defamatory” and claimed those who provided comment and do not live in town had no standing in front of the board. Furthermore, the letter argues neither the town charter nor Massachusetts General Law offer the Select Board provisions to investigate a private business operating in town.

“Before the board arbitrarily and capriciously decides to move forward with a ‘police-like investigation’ the board must realize that any interference with my client’s contractual agreements is a violation of his constitutional rights to due process,” Masterson argued in the letter.

Mastroianni, Dion: ‘No conspiracies’

“The innuendos that are going around, they have to stop,” said Mastroianni. “We have to move forward.”

In a brief interview with the Independent, Mastroianni asserted that any claims made during the Oct. 7 meeting amounted to conspiracy theories, which he would not tolerate. He maintained that he let the Sismanis family out of its lease and entered into a purchase agreement with Dion for the equipment that remained at Hillers Pizza.

“I’m certainly not involved in any profit sharing or funneling any money to anybody,” said Mastroianni when asked about Peter Sismanis’ recent Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings. “I have no idea about any UCC filings or anything else.”

Mastroianni’s comment relates to one of the documents Laskowsky and others shared with the Select Board. UCC filings, which are public record, “allow creditors to notify other creditors about a debtor’s assets used as collateral for a secured transaction.” 

The filing in question was processed on Sept. 17, and it lists Peter Sismanis and Hillers Pizza as a debtor and pledges collateral in exchange for a loan. An expert with whom the Independent shared the UCC filing said it suggests whatever business entity that remains as Hillers Pizza is pledging some form of income stream as collateral for a loan.

Furthermore, a public filing shows that Hillers Pizza had been transferred back to Peter Sismanis in September after his wife had been named head of the business back in July. Moving the business under Eleni Sismanis’ name likely was done to address concerns over the CV license since Peter Sismanis’ conviction.

The expert to whom the Independent reached out indicated that shifting the business back under Peter Sismanis’ name could have been done to help the family wrap up the dissolution of the business. Having him back as the signatory authority could make signing paperwork easier. 

As well, the expert admitted it was possible the loan taken out by Peter Sismanis could be used to pay off a tax lien, though the probability of that was uncertain. And while the UCC filing appeared on Sept. 17 — the same day Crust & Co. opened before it legally was allowed to do so — the loan may have been in process before that date.

Both Mastroianni and Dion asserted that whatever income stream Hillers Pizza has pledged for its loan does not come from them.

“We do not have anything with anybody,” said Dion. “Not Peter Sismanis or his family, not Paul Mastroianni or anybody.” He said he had no knowledge of the UCC filing either, or of a tax lien on Hillers Pizza that still was in place as of June.

Like Mastroianni, Dion asserted that any private business dealings were out of the Select Board’s scope. “That’s not the business of the Hopkinton Select Board,” he said. “Those are private business matters that are completely out of their purview.”

Dion expressed frustration over the matter and maintained that no agreement between him and Peter Sismanis for profit sharing had been arranged. As he has stated in previous meetings with the Select Board, Dion reiterated that he has never met nor been in contact with any member of the Sismanis family.

“If Peter Sismanis walked by me, I wouldn’t know who he was,” he said.

Added Mastroianni: “The only owner [of the business] is Crust & Co. — that’s it, end of story. They bought it, they own it, there’s no conspiracies.”

Regarding why he retained the employees, equipment and some of the facade of the prior business, Dion repeated his desire to not overhaul something that was already working. “That was a business decision … It was not anything otherwise,” he said.

He also called the prior owners’ issues “completely and totally irrelevant” to his hearing earlier this month and how he currently runs the business.

Both Dion and Mastroianni expressed a hope that the issue would be put to rest and the community could find a way to move on. 

“I do believe that time will heal, and when [residents] come in and see me there … they’ll give us a shot and be very happy,” said Dion.