HOLYOKE — After missing three months of City Council meetings while he was incarcerated in Rhode Island, Ward 2 City Councilor Wilmer “Will” Puello-Mota was present at a council subcommittee meeting on Wednesday night.
And Puello said in an interview that he currently has no plans to resign his seat on the City Council.
Puello was arrested on May 11 for violating his bail in a case he is facing in Rhode Island for the alleged possession of child pornography. He spent 90 days in jail on the bail violation charge — prosecutors allege he sent them phony military documents with forged signatures to mislead them — and was released earlier this month.
Rhode Island police originally charged Puello in January 2021, when he was 24, with possession of child pornography after they alleged that he paid for nude photos of a 17-year-old girl in 2020. He pleaded not guilty to that charge, saying that he had believed the girl was 22 and that he had not had any sexual contact with her, according to court documents. Police, however, alleged that the girl told them Puello knew she was 17.
While out on bail fighting that case, Puello was then rearrested in Westfield in May and extradited to Rhode Island after prosecutors accused him of forging his military supervisor’s signature on a fraudulent military memo as part of his efforts to resolve the child pornography charge.
In an email responding to the Gazette’s questions on Thursday, Puello declined to comment on the charges against him or his time in jail. He said that he is “eternally grateful” to his friends and family for their support.
“I have no plan to resign my seat as of right now,” Puello wrote by email. “I’ve spoken with the mayor and some of my council colleagues and plan to continue attending regular meetings. We will see what happens.”
While Puello was incarcerated, the Gazette reported that in 2019, during his failed bid that year to get elected to an at-large seat on the City Council, two employees of the City Clerk’s office found their own signatures on Puello’s nomination papers despite having never signed them, according to City Clerk Brenna Murphy McGee.
Puello did not respond to the Gazette’s questions about the allegations that he had faked signatures on his nomination papers that year.
Puello’s return to the City Council came at Wednesday evening’s Public Service Committee meeting, where he sat in chambers. There was no discussion of the charges Puello is currently facing or his absence from the City Council.
“It’s good to see you,” Puello said to a fellow councilor — his only comment on the matter during the meeting.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.