A former Massachusetts city councilor who fled to Russia and joined the military there as he was due to stand trial in the U.S. on child pornography charges says he hopes to gain Russian citizenship.
That’s according to an interview with a local TV station, in which he was quoted saying it’s “important” to him to obtain citizenship “and the benefits it brings.”
“Insurance, pension, and other support measures. I’m grateful for the opportunity,” he was quoted telling Ugra-TV from a military registration office in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Identified in the news report only as an American military veteran named “Wil,” numerous sources have identified him as none other than Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former member of the Massachusetts National Guard and city councilor in Holyoke who prosecutors say skipped the country just ahead of a court hearing in his child pornography trial. (A Facebook page linked to him lists his former place of employment as Holyoke City Council, and his current employer as the Russian Defense Ministry.)
And if there were any doubt about his identity, the local TV segment shows a clear image of his paperwork and passport, with the full name Wilmer Emanuel Puello-Mota listed.
Puello-Mota was first arrested in September 2020, after a 17-year-old girl told police in Warwick, Rhode Island, that Puello-Mota had sent her money in exchange for sexually explicit photos, knowing she was underage, according to court documents.
While Puello-Mota was facing a long fall from grace in the U.S., he was welcomed into Russia’s military with open arms, with one source close to the Russian government telling The Daily Beast that the Russian Defense Ministry was fully aware of the charges against him.
As he saw his star rise in Russian media this week when he officially signed a contract with the military there—sparking a flurry of propaganda videos circulated by popular pro-war bloggers—the case against him in Rhode Island has churned full-steam ahead. On Friday, a Superior Court judge granted a motion by state prosecutors to take testimony from Puello-Mota’s alleged victim, according to local newspaper The Republican.
Prosecutors are reportedly eager to have the unidentified girl testify now so they can have her testimony pinned down for a future trial.
The former city councilor, now receiving such a hero’s welcome in Russia, also faces charges of forgery and counterfeiting and obstruction of the judicial system. Those charges stem from what prosecutors describe as an elaborate scheme to dupe both prosecutors and his commanders in the Massachusetts Guard so that he could be deployed despite the criminal charges against him. He reportedly told one of his commanders at the time that the child porn charge against him was bogus.
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