3D gun creator vanishes in the face of sex scandal
Cody Wilson, the self-described crypto-anarchist from Austin whose plan to post blueprints for printable firearms on the Internet put him at the center of a national controversy, was charged Wednesday with child sexual assault and was the subject of an international search. Austin police said Wilson, 30, was believed to be in Taiwan and may have gone there to avoid arrest after learning he was under police investigation. An arrest warrant accused Wilson of having sex with a 16-yearold girl at an Austin hotel last month and paying her $500. The legal age of consent in Texas is 17. Police said they were working with international law enforcement agencies to find Wilson and extradite him to Travis County. If convicted of child sexual assault, a felony, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Austin Police Commander Troy Officer said it wasn’t clear when Wilson left for Taiwan, although police said he frequently travels there for business. Flight records show he hadn’t returned to the United States as of Wednesday night, police said. “Before he left, he was informed by a friend of the victim
that she had spoken to police, and police were investigating him for having sex with a minor,” Officer said. The 16-year-old girl reported the incident on Aug. 27 to a counselor at the Center for Child Protection, a nonprofit child advocacy group in Austin. The organization notified police. According to court records, the victim said she met Wilson through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com, which requires users to be at least 18 years old to become members. The girl said Wilson went by the username “Sanjuro,” told her he was a “big deal” and identified himself as “Cody Wilson,” court records say. The girl later told investigators that Wilson sent her photos of his naked anatomy and she responded by sending him nude photos of herself. The two exchanged phone numbers, and on Aug. 15 they met in the parking lot of a coffee shop, court records state. Wilson arrived in a black Ford Edge SUV with a license plate that matches one registered to Wilson’s business, Defense Distributed, his arrest affidavit states. The two went to the Archer Hotel Austin, the affidavit says. Security cameras captured Wilson and the girl using the hotel’s valet service about 8:30 that night. They took an elevator to the seventh floor and entered a room, where the girl said they had sex, the affidavit says. Wilson then paid her $500 in cash, authorities said. Wilson caught the public’s attention in 2013, when he created the first gun made from plastic using a 3D printer and put the blueprints for the weapon online, to be downloaded for free by anybody. He was promptly shut down by the U.S. State Department, which cited a federal law prohibiting the sale of certain weapons and firearm designs to other countries. Wilson responded with a free speech lawsuit, claiming he and his company, Defense Distributed, had a First Amendment right to distribute the plans. The federal government relented, but then 19 states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits to stop Wilson, calling printable guns a safety threat because they lack serial numbers and could pass unnoticed through metal detectors. A judge granted a restraining order against Wilson and extended it last month. Wilson then announced that he would load the blueprints onto flash drives and sell them by mail. Experts have said making a 3D gun requires a fairly advanced printer. The gun Wilson successfully fired that started the controversy was made with an $8,000 3D printer bought on eBay. Its firing pin was made of metal.