Cody Wilson: 3D printed gun company owner arrested in Taiwan for sexual assault of Texan minor

Teenager alleges Codi Wilson paid her for sex in a hotel, police say

Cody Wilson says the ruling against his firm is ‘hysterical’ (AFP/Getty Images)

Cody Wilson, who has played a central role in making 3D-printed weapons available online, has been arrested and detained in Taiwan in connection with the sexual assault of a minor in Texas.

The 30-year-old was detained in Taipei and subsequently transported to the National Immigration Agency. He was ordered to leave the island because he no longer had a valid travel document, said Zhang Wen-xiu, director of the international affairs and law enforcement division at Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency.

Commander Troy Officer of the Austin Police Department said earlier this week that the force had filed an arrest warrant against Mr Wilson for a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault.

The warrant was filed after a 16-year-old girl told investigators that a 30-year-old man paid her $500 (£400) to have sex at a hotel in Austin in August.

Police said the teenager said she met the man online and that the pair initially communicated on a website where Mr Wilson allegedly used a pseudonym before revealing his true identity.

The pair allegedly made arrangements to meet at a coffee shop before relocating to a hotel, where the 16-year-old told police she had sex with Mr Wilson, who is the founder of the Defense Distributed company.

Commander Officer said that investigators were “able to confirm each step of the victim’s story with video tape and interviews”.

He said a counsellor first notified police about the alleged sexual contact.

Police said that Mr Wilson missed his original scheduled flight from Taiwan back to the United States.

Asked whether officials believed Mr Wilson’s trip to Taiwan was in connection to the accusations, Commander Officer acknowledged that Mr Wilson frequently travelled for work.

But he said they believed he was informed police were investigating him for having sex with a minor.

The US Marshals Service said in a statement it was aware of Mr Wilson’s arrest and was “fully engaged with our international partners on this matter”.

Mr Wilson has been in the center of a multi-year US legal battle involving the manufacturing of 3D-printed plastic guns. He manufactured the first fully 3D-printed pistol in 2013.

Last month, he said he’d planned to distribute free blueprints of 3D guns after a federal judge barred his company from posting the designs online until a court case had been resolved.