US military veteran accused of having explicit images of a child apparently joined Russian army

By STEVE LeBLANC and NICK PERRY
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force veteran who fled a charge of possessing sexually explicit images of a child told his lawyer he joined Russia’s army. And video appears to show him signing documents in a military enlistment office in Siberia. Wilmer Puello-Mota is also a former elected official in the small Massachusetts city of Holyoke. He was expected to enter a guilty plea in Rhode Island in January. Last week, video surfaced appearing to show him in Russia expressing support for the country’s war against Ukraine. Puello-Mota was deployed to Afghanistan in 2015 as a member of the U.S. Air Force. He later was a security forces airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard.