A US citizen accused of sexual assault of a minor in Texas has been arrested and is to be deported to the US, investigation and immigration officials said yesterday.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau last night said it had arrested Cody Wilson at a hotel in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華).
Following an official notification yesterday by the US government that Wilson’s US passport has been revoked and that he is a wanted fugitive, local law enforcement agencies stepped up their manhunt and apprehended him at Your Hotel.
Wilson did not use an alias and was registered under his own name at the hotel, the bureau said.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) said that police found Wilson at the hotel and when asked, admitted his name was Cody Wilson.
He did not resist arrest, it said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) confirmed that Wilson arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Sept. 6 on a flight from Los Angeles.
Taipei police said Wilson first stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), where he was booked for three days, but for unknown reason, checked out the following day.
Investigators said Wilson apparently checked an online rental site in Taiwan and signed a lease to rent an apartment suite for six months on Taipei’s Nanchang Street.
On Wednesday he paid a deposit and a month’s rent for the apartment, reports said.
The rental agency was to meet Wilson yesterday at about noon to hand over the keys to the apartment, but he did not show up, likely due to local media reports that he was wanted in the US, police said.
As of press time, Wilson had been transported to the NIA where he is being detained.
Wilson is at the center of a legal battle over efforts to make instructions for 3D printed plastic guns widely available.
Immigration officials said he entered Taiwan on a 90-day visa-free policy for US citizens.
As his passport has been revoked, he is no longer eligible for the visa-free stay and will therefore be deported, the NIA said, adding that US authorities would take over the case.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to