HOLYOKE — Ward 2 City Councilor Wilmer “Will” Puello-Mota remains incarcerated in Rhode Island on a felony charge of child pornography possession as well as charges of obstructing the judicial system, forgery and counterfeiting.
Puello had been accused of allegedly paying for nude photos of a 17-year-old girl back in 2020 and was out on bail when prosecutors accused him of misleading them by counterfeiting documents. He was arrested in Westfield on May 11 and extradited to Rhode Island, where he has been in custody ever since.
Puello will appear before a judge on Aug. 10 for a violation of bail hearing. There, a judge could find that he violated his bail and sentence him.
Under Rhode Island law, the maximum allowable sentence on a bail violation is 90 days, which may include time served, according to a spokesperson for the Rhode Island judiciary.
Prosecutors accused Puello of violating his bail after he allegedly forged his military supervisor’s signature on a fraudulent military memo, according to an affidavit and arrest warrant from police in Warwick, Rhode Island. He was granted $20,000 bail on the two felony charges stemming from those accusations: obstruction of justice as well as forgery and counterfeiting.
Puello was elected to his seat on the Holyoke City Council in November. The City Council, whose members make $10,000 annually, does not have a recall process for removing members.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.