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3D-printed gun advocate faces new charges for incident with teen

The latest charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

 

Mikael Thalen

Tech

Posted on Jan 3, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 10:17 pm CDT

Cody Wilson, a Texas-based advocate for 3D-printed guns, is facing more charges related to his encounter with a 16-year-old girl.

Wilson, who first gained notoriety after publishing plans online for a 3D-printed handgun in 2013, was indicted on Dec. 28 by a Texas grand jury on two second-degree felonies.

The new charges, indecency with a child by contact and indecency with a child by exposure, carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The self-described crypto-anarchist was indicted on a previous charge, regarding the same incident, of sexually assaulting a minor.

Wilson is accused of meeting the minor on the website SugarDaddyMeet.com before having sex with her at a hotel in Austin, Texas. According to an arrest affidavit, the female, who recently became an adult, was paid $500 by Wilson following the encounter.

Andino Reynal, Wilson’s attorney, argued following the indictments that his client was under the impression that the minor was actually an adult.

“Mr. Wilson at all times believed reasonably that the complaining witness was a consenting adult,” Reynal said. “We are confident that once all of the facts are out and we have a chance to interface with the DA’s office more directly that we’ll be able to resolve this matter.”

The Austin-American Statesman reports that Wilson is currently out of jail on a $150,000 bond.

When news of the incident first broke, Wilson, who was in Taiwan at the time, was arrested and extradited back to the U.S.

The entrepreneur later resigned as head of Defense Distributed, the company he founded to create and spread 3D-printed gun blueprints online. Wilson and the company were embroiled in numerous legal battles at the time.

Although a federal judge blocked the company from giving away 3D-printed gun designs online, Defense Distributed circumvented the ban by selling them instead.

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H/T Austin-American Statesman

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*First Published: Jan 3, 2019, 3:52 pm CST