MASSENA -- Violi’s Restaurant owner Ross Violi and manager Dominick Violi have been convicted of violating child labor laws after a 17-year-old employee lost his arm while cleaning a pasta-making machine last April.

Brett Bouchard’s right arm was severed at the elbow in the accident. He was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for surgery to reattach the severed limb and to repair nerve damage. At first he underwent four surgeries and was placed in a medically induced coma for several days following the surgery. He has made numerous trips back to Massachusetts General for followup medical treatment and faces many more medical procedures to insure that he regains use of his right arm.

Ross and Dominick Violi entered guilty pleas to employing a minor and requiring the minor to clean an industrial machine as part of his duties, in violation of Labor Laws 145 and 133(2)(e), according to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. The corporation Violi’s Inc. entered a guilty plea to employing a minor without having an employment certificate, commonly referred to as working papers, on file with the business, in violation of Labor Laws 145 and 132(1).

As a condition of the pleas, the defendants were required to pay $13,262.65 in restitution, fines to the New York State Department of Labor for violations of the State Child Labor Laws, and unpaid wages to the victim. This restitution includes reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the victim’s family for trips to Boston taken for the victim’s medical treatments, which are not covered by insurance.

A civil case is currently being pursued against the defendants by the victim, the victim’s family and a private attorney.

The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also found that the restaurant had committed serious violations.

Violi’s announced in August that the restaurant would close at the end of September after almost 70 years of operation.