3D printed gun backer arrested on sex charge
A leading proponent of 3D printed guns has been arrested in Taiwan after being charged in Texas with sexually assaulting a 16-year old girl there, Taiwanese officials said Friday.
Police arrested Cody Wilson in the Wanhua district of Taipei and delivered him to the National Immigration Agency, officials in the city said.
Police in Austin, Texas, said Wednesday that Wilson had failed to board a flight back to the United States from Taipei, and that they had asked the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force for help finding him. The marshals will return Wilson to Austin authorities after he returns to the United States, the Austin Police Department said Friday.
He had not been charged when he went to Taiwan, so he is not considered to have fled the country.
Wilson, 30, is accused of taking a girl he met via the website SugarDaddyMeet.com to a hotel in Austin on Aug. 15, having sex with her and paying her $500 in cash.
Before he left for Taiwan, a friend of the girl told him that he was under investigation for assault, Austin police have said. Taiwan and the United States do not have an extradition treaty but have agreed to provide mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
The state-owned Taiwan Central News Agency reported Friday that a real estate agent who had seen local news stories about the sexual assault charge told police that Wilson paid a deposit on an apartment Wednesday. Wilson was arrested by officers with the Criminal Investigation Bureau at a hotel in Wanhua, according to the report.
Wilson could be blocked from owning a firearm for life if convicted, legal experts said. He faces a sentence of up to 20 years, Austin officials said Wednesday.
Wilson, a self-described crypto-anarchist, drew national attention over the summer after he reached an unexpected settlement with the State Department that allowed him to upload blueprints for 3-D printed guns online in August.
Gun rights supporters and free speech groups supported his efforts, while gun control activists raised concerns that downloadable firearms, which are difficult to detect and track, would endanger public safety.
Attorneys general from multiple states filed a last-minute lawsuit seeking to stymie Wilson. Last month, a federal judge barred him from carrying out his plan until the lawsuit, which by then included attorneys general from 19 states and Washington, D.C., was resolved.
In response, Wilson said he would sell the files and mail them to buyers instead of making them freely available on his website, Defense Distributed. Josh Blackman, his lawyer in the 3\-D guns lawsuit, declined to comment on how the sexual assault charge might affect the case.