Tunnelton man charged with money laundering claims he was trying to get money for his girlfriend

KINGWOOD — A Tunnelton man is charged with money laundering, but he told police he was just trying to get money for his girlfriend in Dubai so she could access other funds.

Terry Wesley Moon, 51, is charged with felony money laundering. He was arraigned in Preston County Magistrate Court this week and released on bond.

According to the criminal complaint by State Police Trooper C.E. Smith, a man reported his email account had been hacked. He said he was told by someone he believed he was doing business with to send a payment from his bank account to Moon.

Moon told the trooper he received a check for $3,840 from the victim’s company in April and deposited it into his bank account.
He said that he used the money to buy Bitcoin on behalf of his girlfriend, who lives in Dubai.

Moon said he was trying to help the girlfriend “take possession of money from her deceased father’s business to which she did not have access.” He was to accept money from different companies, deposit it in his bank account and use it to buy Bitcoin for the girlfriend.

“The defendant stated that he had reason to believe the source and destination of the money were illegitimate,” but kept doing it because he thought he’d get “a large sum of money” at the end, according to the complaint. Moon said he’d done similar transactions as much as a year earlier.

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