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Four flight attendants arrested for smuggling thousands of dollars to ‘a known person,’ police say

October 23, 2019 at 8:26 a.m. EDT
Carlos Alberto Munoz-Moyano, Maria Isabel Wilson-Ossandon, Maria Beatriz Pasten-Cuzmar and Miaria Delpilar Roman-Strick. (Miami Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation)

A typical customs check at Miami International Airport turned into an arrest on money laundering charges for four American Airlines flight attendants Monday.

Carlos Alberto Munoz-Moyano, 40; Maria Isabel Wilson-Ossandon, 48; Miaria Delpilar Roman-Strick, 55; and Maria Beatriz Pasten-Cuzmar are facing felony charges of money laundering and unauthorized money transmitting between $300 and $20,000, according to the Miami Herald.

Alarm bells went off for a Customs and Border Patrol agent when Munoz-Moyano claimed to have only $100 on him after arriving from a Chile flight. The agent, however, found that Munoz-Moyano actually had $9,000.

The discrepancy in the amounts caused Customs and Border Patrol agents to search the other flight attendants, the Miami Herald reported.

Wilson-Ossadon had $6,371 on her and Roman-Strick had $7,300, leading agents to uncover $22,671 in total, according to CNN’s review of the police report.

It’s unclear whether Pasten-Cuzmar had any money on her, but authorities said they did find out that she had plotted with the other three flight attendants to deliver the money to a “known person,” according to the Miami Herald.

The four told law enforcement that they were supposed to get a 1 percent cut of the money that was found on them, according to the Miami Herald.

American Airlines told the Miami Herald that the company takes the matter seriously and that it’s cooperating with law enforcement.

If found guilty on money laundering charges, the flight attendants could face up to five years in prison.

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