U.S. veteran who fled child porn charges now flies drones for Russia

A former U.S. airman who fled the country to avoid jail time for child pornography charges has resurfaced in Moscow’s propaganda videos, describing his service in the Russian military as a drone operator in eastern Ukraine.

Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, served in the Air Force security forces, a role akin to a policeman on military bases. His enlistment included a deployment to Afghanistan, according to his service record, where he served in a select group of airmen who protect pilots and aircraft in austere environments.

He rose to the rank of technical sergeant in the Massachusetts Air National Guard before he was kicked out over charges of possessing child pornography and other crimes, officials said, including forging military documents. He fled the United States in January while on bail after he was expected to plead guilty.

Now a reconnaissance drone operator with the call sign “Boston,” Puello-Mota has fought in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region, where Russian forces have made bloody gains against Ukrainian troops. In a video published Monday by the Russian Defense Ministry, which describes Puello-Mota as a member of a drone platoon within a motorized rifle unit, he detailed his expertise in base defense.

“I’ve definitely been able to apply some of those skills, leaderships skills, as well,” he says in the video, a New England accent occasionally poking through as he praises his new comrades. The post describes him as a former American citizen; he is pictured with a Russian flag patch affixed to his body armor.

“I don’t consider myself a traitor,” he says. “The United States and Russia are not at war.”

Hundreds of American veterans have volunteered to fight in Ukrainian ranks, and several have been killed in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. But far less is known about how many Americans have fought under Russian command.

“He said, ‘I joined the Russian army,’ or something like that,” his attorney John M. Cicilline told the Boston Globe in April. “I’m sure he joined the Russian army because he didn’t want to register as a sex offender.”

Messages left for Cicilline and Rory Munns, another attorney who has represented him, were not returned.

After six years of active duty in the Air Force, Puello-Mota transitioned to the Massachusetts Air National Guard in 2019 and joined the 104th Fighter Wing based in Westfield, Mass.

In 2020, he was charged in Rhode Island with possessing child pornography after he reported a gun was stolen from his hotel room. In the subsequent investigation, he told police he was there to meet a woman he earlier believed to be older but was actually 17, according to court documents. Explicit videos and photos of the girl were found on his phone, and she told authorities Puello-Mota knew she was underage when he received the images, the documents said.

The next year, before his charges were publicly known, he ran unopposed and won a seat on the Holyoke City Council in western Massachusetts. Following the disclosure of his charges, the council attempted to force him from his position but was unsuccessful because he had not been convicted at the time, the Boston Globe reported.

Puello-Mota accumulated several more charges in 2022 after a failed plot to outfox authorities. Seeking a lesser punishment in the child pornography case, Puello-Mota was found to have fabricated a call from his superior officer in the Air National Guard and forged a military memorandum in support of his continued service.

He was removed from the Air National Guard in October 2022, and his security clearance was revoked, officials said. “Criminal activity is not compatible with our values as an organization and will not be tolerated in our ranks,” the Massachusetts National Guard said in a statement.

Puello-Mota was expected to plead guilty over child pornography and forgery charges on Jan. 9. But two days before his appearance, he boarded a flight from Dulles International Airport to Istanbul, according to documents provided by the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office. Months later, he was appearing in videos with the Russian military, with fellow soldiers praising him for demonstrating new drone techniques.

“It appears to be Will in those videos circulating,” Holyoke City Council President Tessa Murphy-Romboletti said Tuesday in an email.

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Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.