- December 15, 2025
An airport security incident that made national headlines last May was crucial to a Flagler County child custody dispute that concluded Thursday.
Vincent Maiori was traveling with his 4-year-old son last year when airport security discovered gun parts and ammunition hidden in the child’s stuffed animals.
Maiori said he didn’t know the gun parts were in his son’s toys, which were packed in the boy's suitcase. After being further searched and interviewed, he and his son were allowed to continue their flight that same day. The incident was the result of a domestic dispute, officials concluded.
At the time, Maiori was in the midst of a custody battle for his two children with their mother, Krystal Mastropietro. The dispute started in 2011 when Mastropietro decided to move from Flagler County to Rhode Island.
In 2012, Mastropietro had custody of their son, but the courts eventually transferred custody to Maiori. He traveled to Rhode Island in May of that year to collect his son. He and his son were to fly back to Florida via a stopover in Detroit on May 7, the day the guns were found.
Mastropietro denied hiding the gun parts, which were described in a Transportation Security Administration release as “artfully concealed,” in her son’s toys. She said she packed the bag the evening before her son’s departure and left it in her room overnight before giving it to Maiori. The only other person with access to suitcase that evening was Mastropietro’s fiancé, Ken Pullion.
Circuit Judge Dennis Craig heard closing arguments in the custody dispute Thursday. He let Mastropietro’s attorney, Timothy Goan, speak for about an hour before interrupting.
“Could you address the huge elephant in the room right now?” Craig asked.
He was referring to what was known during the trial as the “Mickey Mouse incident,” named for one of the toys that concealed the weapon parts.
Goan first suggested that a third party compromised the bag while Maiori waited at the airport to pass through security, an idea Craig discounted as unreasonable because there is little motive for a person to do that. Even if Maiori had successfully passed security with the firearm — which most people understand is highly unlikely — that person would need to somehow get the firearm back from Maiori on the other side of security.
Also unreasonable, Craig said, is the suggestion that Maiori put the guns in the bag. “It makes no sense,” he said. “That would be so convoluted to implicate himself to turn around and implicate her.”
Also, since Maiori flew to Rhode Island and back quickly, Craig said it would be “quite the feat” for him to somehow obtain a gun.
Craig’s logic left two possible culprits: Mastropietro or Pullion.
“If I take Mr. Maiori’s testimony as the truth and if I take Ms. Mastropietro’s testimony as the truth, it was (Pullion),” Craig said, adding that this would be giving Mastropietro the benefit of the doubt. “Now, if (Pullion) has the ability, on the behalf of his fiancé, to do this, then he’s a danger.”
Mastropietro currently lives with Pullion.
“Which begs the question,” Craig said. “What do I do about (Pullion)?”
No charges were ever filed in the airport incident.
Ultimately on Thursday, Maiori won majority custody of the children, but Mastropietro was granted broad visiting rights. However, Craig ordered that any time Pullion spends with the children must be supervised.
The gun incident was the forefront issue in the trial, but not the only one. Craig used more than 20 factors, as mandated by state statutes, to determine the best primary guardian for the children. Most of those factors leaned in favor of Maiori as guardian.
