Cody Wilson, Defense Distributed Founder, Used SugarDaddyMeet To Sexually Assault Minor

Founder of 3D printing company Defense Distributed, Cody Wilson, was charged with a second-degree felony Wednesday after being accused of sexually assaulting a minor in Travis County, Texas, Austin Police Department said. Wilson was in news last month for his plans to publish blueprints for a gun that could be made with a 3D printer.

Wilson was charged with sexual assault based on accusations that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl he met through SugarDaddyMeet app/website on Aug. 15 and paid her $500, police told the Statesman.

Austin Police Cmdr. Troy Officer said Wilson's last known location was Taipei, Taiwan, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. He said authorities were not clear as to why the 30-year-old was in Taipei, adding the entrepreneur did make frequent business trips to the city. Taiwan does not have an extradition agreement with the United States, which means Wilson cannot be sent back by the former's authorities for the crimes he committed in the U.S.

Reports also said the Austin police was working with international authorities to bring Wilson back to the country.

"I'm not even trying to guess Mr. Wilson's motive," Officer said, a report on NPR said.

Officer added Wilson missed a scheduled flight back to the U.S. According to a report on the Statesman, Wilson was thought to have left the country after a friend of the victim informed him of the investigation.

"We don't know why he went to Taiwan, but we do know before he left he was informed by a friend of the victim that she had spoken to police and police were investigating him for sex with a minor,” Officer said.

He added Wilson was entered into a national law enforcement computer for sexual assault of a child.

According to reports, a counselor informed the Austin Police of the incident via phone call Aug. 22. In a forensic interview held Aug. 27, the girl said she first connected with Wilson via an account in SugarDaddyMeet.com. According to an affidavit, the girl started exchanging messages online with a man who had the username “Sanjuro.” They soon started messaging each other via text.

“During this conversation, ‘Sanjuro’ identified himself as ‘Cody Wilson.’ The victim said that ‘Sanjuro’ described himself to the victim as a ‘big deal,’” the affidavit said.

Wilson then sent the girl pictures of his genitals and she sent him nude photos of herself, the document said.

The investigators confirmed “Sanjuro” to be Wilson after comparing his profile photos used on the website/app to his driver’s license photo.

The victim said she met with Wilson at Bennu Coffee in the 500 block of South Congress Avenue in South Austin on Aug. 15. They then went to the Archer Hotel in the 3100 block of Palm Way in Wilson’s black 2015 Ford Edge.

The story was corroborated using surveillance footage and hotel records, which showed Wilson renting a room, the affidavit said. Next day, after leaving the hotel around 9.20 a.m. local time (10.20 a.m. EDT), Wilson dropped the girl off at a Whataburger on Slaughter Lane.

Wilson’s charges are a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison, with a fine of up to $10,000.

The Defense Distributed founder first made news in 2012 when he announced the Wiki Weapon Project — an effort to design and build a gun on a 3D printer from durable plastic. He wanted to make the weapon easily available to the public.

A year later, he was successful and created a self-made, single-shot pistol he called the Liberator. Wilson then proceeded to post the plans online but was met with an order from the U.S. State Department, which asked him to remove the information as it violated the federal law against exporting certain weapons or firearms designs to other countries.

Wilson proceeded to sue the State Department, arguing his Austin company was entitled to free-speech right to disseminate the plans. Earlier this year, the Trump administration settled with Wilson and agreed to let him post the designs online.

Wilson said "the age of the downloadable gun formally begins," of the agreement. Although the plans were uploaded days before the actual date was announced, they were taken down and Wilson was once again disallowed to post the blueprints online after a federal judge in Seattle issued an order last month after but officials from 19 states sued him for the same.

A day later, Wilson announced he started selling the plans via mail and other secure means as the order only stopped from online publication.

"I will continue to fight anyone who will try to sue me and say that I can't do this," Wilson said in a recent interview with the Statesman.