Holyoke councilor, who fled sex charges to fight for Russia, seeks to vote in Nov. election
HOLYOKE — Disgraced former City Councilor Wilmer Puello-Mota wants to vote in Holyoke's upcoming municipal elections.
He's been keeping up an email correspondence with Holyoke City Clerk and Registrar of Voters Brenna Murphy Leary for weeks, seeking an absentee ballot.
"Assuming it's him," Leary said Thursday. "There has been some back and forth."
The requests are coming from Puello-Mota's email, she said, while declining to go into further detail. He did not elaborate a reason for voting.
He said he is in Russia.
Meanwhile, she's consulting with City Solicitor Lisa Ball and with the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth on whether Puello-Mota, who is presumably still in Russia, is eligible to vote in Holyoke.
"The circumstances are certainly unique," Ball said. "We have a duty to investigate and determine a voter's eligibility. That's what we will do."
The state says the decision rests with Holyoke.
"Our Elections Division is aware of the absentee ballot applications he submitted," wrote Debra O'Malley, director of communications for Secretary William F. Galvin, in an emailed response to The Republican. "Ultimately, determinations regarding the eligibility of an absentee voter must be made by the local Board of Registrars. It is our understanding that the city clerk's office has consulted their legal counsel regarding this person's eligibility to receive an overseas absentee ballot."
Wilmer Puello-Mota insists he is not a traitor in a video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (Screenshot via Youtube)The Republican
According to Galvin's website, a Massachusetts voter is eligible for an absentee ballot if that voter is a citizen living outside the U.S.
Puello-Mota would be exercising his franchise, despite having fled to the Russian Army rather than face a child pornography charge in Rhode Island.
Puello-Mota, now 29, served a two-year term on the council and is an Air Force veteran, having served on the security force at the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base and on deployment to Afghanistan .
He got in trouble back in 2020 after he reported a stolen gun, and police found nude images of a 17-year-old girl on his phone. He'd met the girl on a "sugar daddy" website.
Police in Warwick, Rhode Island, charged Puello-Mota with one count of having sexually explicit images of a child.
They later added charges of trying to deceive prosecutors and his commanders about the case, after prosecutors tried to offer him a deal open to service members. Instead, Puello-Mota forged letters purportedly from his commanders and tried to impersonate one of his superiors on the phone.
Puello-Mota later sued his fellow councilors to keep his seat on the council while he fought the charges.
He was about to plead guilty in Rhode Island on charges of possession of child sex abuse images, obstruction of the judicial system, forgery and counterfeiting back in January 2024.
Under the plea, he'd have served just 18 months of incarceration, and he would have had to register as a sex offender. Puello-Mota told his attorney, in a phone call after fleeing, that he was afraid registering as an offender would harm his job prospects.
He'd already been separated from the Air National Guard.
So instead of appearing in court, he boarded a Turkish Airlines flight from Dulles International Airport in Washington bound for Istanbul, and then made his way to Russia.
Once there, he joined Putin's military and trained as a drone operator for service against Ukraine. He's appeared in Russian propaganda videos.
"I don't consider myself a traitor," he said in one video. "The United States and Russia are not at war."
Stories by Jim Kinney
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