Cody Wilson, 3 D Printed Gun Activist, Charged with Sexual Assault of a Child

September 20, 2018
By: Catherine Townsend

Cody Wilson

Photo by: U.S. Marshals

U.S. Marshals

Cody Wilson

AUSTIN, TX — Cody Wilson, the controversial 30-year-old 3-D gun promoter and “crypto-anarchist,” has been charged with the sexual assault of a child after he allegedly paid a teen $500 for sex at a hotel.

Texas police say Wilson met the alleged victim, who is 16 years old and lives in Central Texas, on a website called SugarDaddyMeet.com.

JUST IN: U.S. Marshals release WANTED poster for Cody Wilson, the Austin man behind 3D printed guns, now charged with sexual assault https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/cody-wilson-man-behind-3d-printed-gun-company-charged-with-sexual-assault-of-a-child

U.S. Marshals have released a wanted poster for Wilson, who is believed to be in Taiwan after checking out of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Taipei on September 7th, according to the UDN news site. He reportedly “missed a flight back to the United States.”

Wilson allegedly used the name “Sanjuro” on SugarDaddyMeet.com and told the child victim that he was a “big deal,” according to court documents.

Police reportedly have a video of the victim meeting Wilson at Bennu Coffee in Austin, where he arrived in a black Ford SUV that matched a license plate registered under his firearms business, Defense Distributed.

Wilson allegedly took the girl to the Archer Hotel in Austin. Wilson sexually assaulted her and then “retrieved five $100 bills from a bag on the floor” and gave her the money, according to the affidavit.

Wilson and his company, Defense Distributed, which sells 3-D printers that can manufacture guns, are currently embroiled in a legal battle over his decision to publish blueprints for 3-D-printed guns that anyone can download. The activist has described his idea to reporters as “Wikileaks for guns.”

A July settlement allowed Wilson to re-release his plastic gun’s downloadable blueprints, giving anyone with access to a 3-D printer the ability to create their own so-called “ghost guns,” – which are totally untraceable and unregistered.

Then, later in the summer, a federal judge temporarily stopped him from putting gun blueprints online — and in August, a federal judge in Seattle extended the injunction.

Later that month, Wilson said he’d started selling the plans for producing plastic firearms using 3-D printers despite the injunction.

At a press conference, a Cmdr. An officer with the Austin Police Department stated that the allegations against Wilson would constitute a second-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 20 years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.

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