Former Air National Guardsman Facing Child Porn Charges May Have Defected to Russian Military

[Eugene]

Related:
• Is Russia’s New U.S. Propaganda Star Wanted on Child Porn Charges in Rhode Island? (Daily Beast)
• Fugitive former US city councillor enlists with Russia for war in Ukraine (The Guardian)

________________________________________________

Source: Military.com

Former Air National Guardsman Facing Child Porn Charges May Have Defected to Russian Military

Military.com | By Rachel Nostrant
Published April 04, 2024 at 5:28pm ET

A former Air National Guardsman has allegedly defected and joined the Russian army in its fight against Ukraine, according to the Rhode Island attorney general's office.

Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, a former security forces technical sergeant with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, allegedly fled the country in response to a pending criminal case against him for possession of child pornography. Social media posts claim he volunteered with the Russian military and fought against Ukrainians in a fierce battle for a key eastern city.

"We are aware Mr. Puello-Mota left the country in response to civil criminal charges filed against him," Don Veitch, a spokesperson for the 104th Fighter Wing in Massachusetts, told Military.com in an email.

The charges, which Veitch called "very serious," led to Puello-Mota's separation from the Guard in October 2022. "Criminal activity is not compatible with our values as an organization and will not be tolerated in our ranks," he said.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/04/04/former-air-national-guardsman-facing-child-porn-charges-may-have-defected-russian-military.html

[Eugene]

1. Is Russia's New U.S. Propaganda Star Wanted on Child Porn Charges in Rhode Island?

Source: Daily Beast

Is Russia’s New U.S. Propaganda Star Wanted on Child Porn Charges in Rhode Island?

The “former American soldier” who starred in a new pro-war video praising Russia’s “mission” in Ukraine is reportedly a wanted fugitive.

Allison Quinn
News Editor
Updated Apr. 04, 2024 10:59AM EDT / Published Apr. 04, 2024 9:21AM EDT

Kremlin-controlled media lit up this week with news that an American veteran had signed a contract with the Russian military in a bold act of defiance against U.S. support for Ukraine.

“Wil is staunchly convinced of the need to support Russia and admires the tenacity and heroism of our soldiers,” one report declared of the new “hero.”

He even got the movie-star treatment in a one-and-a-half minute video circulated by popular pro-war Russian Telegram channels. But this new propaganda darling, identified only as “Wil” in the flurry of gushing Russian news reports, may have a controversial background.

According to reports in Russia and back home in Massachusetts, the new American in Ukraine may be none other than Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former city councilor in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who prosecutors say fled the country to evade child porn charges.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/wilmer-puello-mota-is-russias-new-us-media-star-wanted-on-child-porn-charges-in-rhode-island

[Eugene]

2. Fugitive former US city councillor enlists with Russia for war in Ukraine

Source: The Guardian

Fugitive former US city councillor enlists with Russia for war in Ukraine

Pjotr Sauer
Fri 5 Apr 2024 11.30 BST
Last modified on Fri 5 Apr 2024 11.40 BST

A former city councillor and member of the Massachusetts national guard who is wanted in the US on child sexual abuse image charges has fled the country and joined the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, former city councillor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, went missing on 7 January, two days before he was scheduled to appear in court in Rhode Island in possession of child sexual abuse images and obstruction of justice charges.

This week, Puello-Mota resurfaced at an enlistment centre in the Russian region of Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, where he was captured on film signing a military contract, seated in a room adorned with photographs of Vladimir Putin and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu

“An American signed a military contract at the patriots centre in Khanty-Mansiysk,” reads a message accompanying the video published by the region’s official channel on Telegram.

Prior to signing the contract with the Russian military, Puello-Mota appears to have fought as a volunteer alongside Russian troops during Moscow’s capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in February.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/fugitive-former-us-city-councillor-enlists-with-russia-for-war-in-ukraine

[Botany]

3. Fine let him stay in Russia until Vlad needs him for his meat grinder in Ukraine.

Trump, Flynn, Stone, Bannon, and so on can go there too.

[Eugene]

5. This Repug slimeball appears to be a repeat volunteer and Putinist true believer.

The propaganda video has him fighting at Avdiivka. His only future is being a sacrifice for the cause.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. traitor. good luck under a dictator. hope u come back in a body bag.

[Wonder Why]

6. Let him be buried there. We don't need him back. If he survives, would you want a child-porn criminal in your town?