A former Massachusetts city councilor who fled the country earlier this year instead of standing trial for a child porn charge is now fighting for Russia in its war with Ukraine.
Ex-Holyoke official Wilmer Puello-Mota — who was also a Massachusetts National Guardsman — appeared to be inside a Russian enlistment center where he signed up to join the war effort on behalf of the Kremlin, newly surfaced footage showed last week, according to reports.
The fugitive was filmed in an enlistment location with a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the background, according to the Guardian.
“An American signed a military contract at the patriots [center] in Khanty-Mansiysk,” a telegram message stated in the video put up by the region’s official Telegram channel, according to the outlet.
Puello-Mota, 28, purportedly said he wanted to become a Russian citizen in an interview with Ugra-TV, the Daily Beast reported.
The ex-politician’s legal turmoil began after authorities found naked photos of a 17-year-old girl on his cell phone in 2020, the Boston Globe reported. He was charged with child pornography back then even as he tried to claim he thought the victim was 22.
He’s also facing obstruction of the judicial system, forgery and counterfeiting for allegedly presenting fake documents to the Massachusetts Air National Guard in a bid to trick commanders following the child porn charge, according to the Globe.
While the Holyoke City Council tried to boot him from the governing body, a lawsuit brought by Puello-Mota allowed him to keep the seat until his term expired in December 2023, the newspaper reported.
Before his impending trial date this January, he flew out of the country and went to Turkey, prosecutors have said.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office raised the growing possibility that Puello-Mota was in Russia last week.
“The state has received photos and videos purporting to be the defendant in Russia and Ukraine, where he is alleged to have joined the Russian military,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha wrote, according to Military.com, citing court docs.
“While the state cannot verify the authenticity of the videos and photographs, if they are accurate, the defendant is well beyond the jurisdiction of this court and, if false, the defendant is engaged in an elaborate ruse to conceal his whereabouts.”
His former colleagues believe that the man in the recent video is in fact Puello-Mota.
“That’s Wil in it. It looks like Wil. It sounds like Wil,” Holyoke City Councilor David Bartley told the Globe. “He looks good and healthy. It is a stunning turn of events.”
Councilor Juan Anderson-Burgos added, “I am 100% sure.”
Other footage indicates Puello-Mota appeared to fight for Moscow as a volunteer in February when Russian forces seized the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, the Guardian reported.
