U.S. vet wanted on child porn charge appears to be fighting for Russia against Ukraine

A U.S. Air Force veteran who was facing a possession of child pornography charge when he fled the country appears to have confirmed, in a propaganda video released Monday, that he has joined the Russian army. He insisted he is not a traitor.

"I’m Will. I’m from Massachusetts,” Wilmer Puello-Mota, who is also a former City Council member in Holyoke, Massachusetts, said in the five-minute video released by Russia's Defense Ministry. "My call sign is 'Boston.'"

Puello-Mota, 28, is serving as a reconnaissance drone operator with the Russian military units fighting the Ukrainians in the Donetsk region, according to the Defense Ministry, which identified him as both an “American with Russian citizenship” and a “former American citizen.”

Puello-Mota served on the Holyoke City Council from 2021 to 2023 and was aligned with conservative council members who supported former President Donald Trump, the Globe reported.