From Wilmer Puello-Mota in Russia: ‘Intent to return is uncertain’
HOLYOKE — Fugitive from justice Wilmer Puello-Mota , in an absentee ballot request emailed to Holyoke officials in July, listed his political party as United Russia .
United Russia is Vladimir Putin's ruling coalition.
Puello-Mota is a disgraced former city councilor who fled child pornography prosecution in Rhode Island and joined Russia's army a year and a half ago. On a ballot application, he also checked the box for "I am a U. S. Citizen living outside the county; and my intent to return is uncertain."
Wilmer Puello-Mota insisting he is not a traitor in a video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (Screengrab via Youtube)The Republican
Puello-Mota's ultimately unsuccessful request for an absentee ballot stretched over a chain of emails he sent to Holyoke City Clerk and Registrar of Voters Brenna Murphy Leary over four months. The Republican obtained those emails with a public records request.
The request also churned up an insulting email from Puello-Mota to Council President Tessa R. Murphy-Romboletti , the first woman to serve in that post.
"Just got around to watching the last meeting. You're a nutcase. Resign" Puello-Mota wrote Murphy-Romboletti Friday, Oct. 17
He signed it "Not V/r," a twist on a military abbreviation in this case meant to signify not "very respectfully."
A one-term councilor and Air National Guard veteran of Afghanistan, Puello-Mota's trouble in Rhode Island began 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.
Authorities there later added charges of trying to deceive prosecutors and his commanders about the case. The Rhode Island Attorney General's Office tried to offer him a deal open to service members. But Puello-Mota forged letters purportedly from his commanders and tried to impersonate one of his superiors on the phone in order to avoid penalties, according to court documents in the case.
Puello-Mota later sued his fellow councilors to keep his seat on the council while he fought the charges. He won reinstatement but did not run for another term.
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. The deal would have had him serve just 18 months, and he would have had to register as a sex offender. In a phone call after running away, Puello-Mota told his attorney that he was afraid registering as an offender would harm his job prospects.
He'd already been forced out of the Air National Guard.
Once in Russia, Puello-Mota joined the Russian military as a drone operator in its war against Ukraine. And he appeared in Russian propaganda videos.
"I don't consider myself a traitor," he said in one of the videos. "The United States and Russia are not at war."
With regards to voting, much of the back-and forth centered on being able to verify an address for him in Russia.
In one document, he gives his mailing address as 22 Frunzenskaya Embankment, Moscow.
That's the location of the National Defense Management Center, the Russian military's command and control center.
In an email, he feigned incredulity at the idea that it's not a residential address.
He angrily responded to a request that he get his address verified by the U.S. Consulate.
"That's a classic, unreasonable request that makes no sense," Puello-Mota responded to Leary.
The American consulate in Russia has no jurisdiction and is operating with very little staff.
He also provided an additional Russian document identifying him as a resident of the 41,488-person city of Pyt-Yakh on the west Siberian plain.
In the end, Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin decided Puello-Mota gave up his right to vote when he fled the felony charge.
Inmates incarcerated on a felony don't have the right to vote in Massachusetts.
Stories by Jim Kinney
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