3D gun creator wanted on child sex assault charge is arrested in Taiwan

By Nicole Chavez, CNN

    (CNN) -- Cody Wilson, the creator of the world's first fully printed 3D gun, has been arrested in Taiwan after he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor in Texas, the island's state news agency CNA reported.

A warrant for Wilson's arrest was issued earlier this week following allegations that Wilson, 30, had sex with a 16-year-old girl he met on an adult dating site, police said.

Wilson was arrested Friday at a hotel in Taipei, CNA reported citing Taiwan's Central Bureau of Investigation.

His passport already has been nullified and he would have to leave Taiwan, Zhang Wen-Xiu from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency told reporters on Saturday.

Austin Police Cmdr. Troy Officer said Wilson met the girl at a coffee shop on August 15 and later brought her to a hotel and paid her $500 for sex.

The age of consent in Texas is 17.

Wilson is the founder of Defense Distributed, a company that created blueprints of a 3D-printed handgun made of plastic, the same material used in Lego blocks. The company is embroiled in a legal dispute that began in the Obama administration over the distribution of the blueprints.

Shortly after Wilson posted the blueprints online in 2013, the Obama administration ordered him to take them down. Wilson responded with a lawsuit in 2015, claiming First Amendment rights. The Trump administration settled the case in June, and the 3D weapon blueprints were scheduled to be posted online August 1. However, Washington state and other states successfully sued to block the release of the blueprints that day.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Share this article: