Cody Wilson had fled the country to Taiwan before he was extradited back to the United States to face assault charges.
The man behind the company who earlier this year released online tutorials on how to print your own gun, has been released on a $150,000 bond after he fled the country to avoid arrest for sexual assault of a minor.
In August, Cody Wilson, a self-desired “crypto-anarchist” messaged an underage girl through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com—a site for wealthily older men and young women looking for “arrangement dating.” According to an affidavit by a detective with the Austin Police Department, Wilson messaged the 16-year-old girl under the username Sanjuro, before exchanging numbers and continuing to message each other. Revealing his true identity, Wilson described himself as a “big deal” and confirmed he was the subject of several recent news reports.
Arranging to meet up on August 15, 2018, Wilson then allegedly raped the girl before paying her $500. It was only when law enforcement searched the victim’s phone nearly two weeks after the alleged incident, that they found the two had also exchanged nude pictures. According to the detectives who interviewed the alleged victim: “If someone mistakes her age, it’s because they think she’s younger, not older than the 16-year-old she is.” In Texas, the age of consent is 17.
Roughly two weeks ago Wilson fled the US for Taiwan after a friend of the victim tipped him off about the charges. According to the Taiwanese newspaper The Liberty Times, police located Wilson’s exact whereabouts in Taiwan by proposing a fake business deal with his company and monitoring when and where he signed the contract online. They eventually arrested him in a hotel in Taipei’s Wanhua District. Investigators with Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency also reported that Wilson had recently signed a lease to rent an apartment suite for six months on Taipei’s Nanchang Street—paying the deposit and a month’s rent last Wednesday. After he was deported back to the US and handed over to law enforcers, Wilson was booked at Harris County Jail in Houston.
In July, Wilson’s company Defense Distributed found themselves wrapped up in a 20-state lawsuit against President Donald Trump after the current administration decided to reverse a ban on 3D printing tutorial of how to make your own gun. Wilson also founded Hatreon, a website no longer in operation, that allowed neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and other extremist figures to seek crowdfunding opportunities.
If found guilty, Wilson faces 20 years in prison and banned from owning a firearm. Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed have announced a press conference this Tuesday for 11 a.m.