A Texas man running a 3D printed guns company was on Sunday booked into a Houston jail on a charge of sexual assault after Taiwanese officials sent him back to the US, where he is accused of having sex with an underage girl.
Cody Wilson, 30, flew to Taiwan after learning he was under investigation and was picked up by Taiwanese authorities on Friday after his US passport was annulled, police said.
Wilson was deported on Saturday.
He was booked into Harris County jail in Houston and was being held on US$150,000 bond, according to the jail’s Web site.
“We are glad that Cody is back in Texas again where we can work with him on his case,” Wilson’s attorney, Samy Khalil, said in a statement late on Sunday. “That’s our focus right now, representing our client and preparing his defense.”
As the founder of Defense Distributed, Wilson became a notable figure in the US debate over guns after the company posted on Internet the blueprints for plastic guns that can be made with a 3D printer.
The files could previously be downloaded for free ,but a federal judge issued a nationwide injunction last month that blocked the posting of the blueprints online.
Wilson was placed under investigation after a counselor told authorities on Aug. 22 that a 16-year-old girl said she was paid US$500 to have sex with Wilson at an Austin hotel, police said.
Authorities said that Wilson met the girl through the Web site SugarDaddyMeet.com.
According to an affidavit, the girl said they met in the parking lot of an Austin coffee shop last month and then drove to a hotel.
Investigators later interviewed the girl and obtained a warrant for Wilson’s arrest on Wednesday last week.
Police said at the time they were aware Wilson traveled often for business, but that it was not clear why he had flown to Taiwan.
Additional reporting by AP
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