Andover Man Accused Of Not Paying Employees From Failed Vape Shop, Selling Pot Without A License, Posting Extravagant Shopping Sprees With Ex-Girlfriend On IG
Joshua Bottoni is a self-described entrepreneur from Andover whose vaping store in Lowell recently closed down. He blamed it on the recent ban on vaping products instituted by Governor Charlie Baker.
His businesses, Empire Vaping and Empire Liquids, opened in 2016, and purported to be doing well. But two employees claimed that they were never paid for their labor.
Based on a negative review on Empire’s Facebook page, it looks as if Marc Anthony Cruz was not only an employee there, but a very loyal and hard working one.
“Marc is there around the clock.”
Marc also posted screenshots of a text conversation with Bottomi, in which the crisco crevice confirms that he does indeed owe money to Mr. Cruz.
What he’s basically saying here is that he’s not going to pay this man the money that is owed to him for services rendered unless the man agrees to stop criticizing him for not paying for services rendered. That’s now how freedom of speech or capitalism works.
Another former employee accused him of being paid late with checks that bounced, and then never receiving what was owed for his labor.
I’d highly recommend these guys contact the Attorney General’s office. This is one of the only things Maura Healey is useful for.
You’d think that someone who can’t afford to pay their rent or employees would be living frugally. But, if he were corrupt enough to be spending money flagrantly while not paying his bills you would hope he wouldn’t be foolish enough to flaunt his name brand shopping sprees that he took his now ex-girlfriend on all over Instagram.
This is what happens when you geo-target Meth Mile on Tinder.
The fact that she’s dumb enough to post stuff like this on Instagram is a perfect example of why you can’t give ratchets nice things.
According to multiple sources he also was selling large quantities of unlicensed marijuana out of the vape shop too.
He screwed them over by not paying them, by promising money was coming, and not coming through. He then decided to operate as a non licensed, illegal marijuana dispensary in the vape shop. He bought and sold thousands of dollars, flaunted purchases from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, etc, all while refusing to pay his staff. He rents a house in Andover, ma. He wears grills in his mouth, totes and flashes pictures of a gun, and thinks that he’s Pablo Escobar. He f***ed the business landlord out of 4 months of arrears in rent, while living the high life on brand name fashion and improper marijuana sales.
A cursory look at Bottomi and his ex-girlfriend’s IG account shows them growing, selling, and marketing large amounts of marijuana.
Very smart.
On Facebook he carries on like he’s some sort of ghetto superstar, complaining about “broke b***es,” how other men are jealous of him, how he will pamper other people’s girlfriends with name brand clothing while his employees remain unpaid, bragging about his next business venture/scam, showing off his new gun, and posting “weight loss” pictures like he’s not a walking commercial for diabetes.
On top of that one woman alleges that he’s also abusive.
“I dated him in 2015. Into the relationship, he became controlling, manipulative, and verbally abusive. When I moved on from the relationship, he threatened to post pictures of me nude, had his friends threaten my fiancé (kill him with a gun to be exact) After going no contact, he has harassed me a handful of times using burner app numbers.”
I contacted Mr. Bottomi and asked if he had a comment. He initially said yes and told me to call him until I told him what the allegations were against him.
“I’m all set, that’s a pack of lies,” said Mr. Bottomi.
When he was told that we have pictures and text messages that verify the claims being made against him, his response was,
“Rumors that’s all you have I can debunk those theories with statements from my ex girlfriend, my lawyer, and my cpa.”
I went live this morning explaining this story, and called him as I told him I would (subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here to get content before other turtle riders). He did not answer, but the Worcester Police did call me back in regards to my inquiry to receive the Joe Hart booking video from his arrest on October 19.
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