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US Air Force Veteran Joins Russian Army Amid Legal Troubles

US Air Force Russia Rhode Island the Massachusetts Air National Guard The US Air Force
This undated still image taken from video posted on pro-Kremlin media sites appears to show Wilmer Puello-Mota signing papers in a military enlistment office in Siberia. Puello-Mota, a U.S. Air Force

A U.S. Air Force veteran facing charges of possessing sexually explicit images of a child has reportedly fled to Russia and joined the country's army. The 28-year-old former elected official from Massachusetts, Wilmer Puello-Mota, failed to appear in court in Rhode Island in early January, where he was expected to plead guilty to the charges.

Puello-Mota's lawyer revealed that the veteran informed him of joining the Russian army, allegedly to avoid registering as a sex offender due to the criminal case. Puello-Mota had a background in the U.S. Air Force and the Massachusetts Air National Guard before his legal troubles.

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