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3D-Printed Gun Activist Cody Wilson Charged With Sexual Assault, Misses Flight Back From Taiwan
3-D Printed Gun Promoter, Cody Wilson, Is Charged With Sexual Assault of Child (archive)
Cody Wilson, whose push to post blueprints for 3-D printed guns online has made him a key figure in the national gun control debate, was charged on Wednesday with sexually assaulting a child in Texas.
But law enforcement officers said they were having trouble finding Mr. Wilson, who missed a flight back to the United States from Taipei, Taiwan, his last known location. During a news conference on Wednesday, Cmdr. Troy Officer of the Austin Police Department said that a warrant had been filed for Mr. Wilson's arrest and that local detectives were working with national and international partners to find him.
Mr. Wilson, 30, is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl at a hotel in Austin on Aug. 15 and paying her $500 in cash, according to an affidavit filed in Travis County. The girl told the police that she had met Mr. Wilson through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com, where he was using the screen name "Sanjuro," the affidavit says.
[...] She and Mr. Wilson, who identified himself to the girl, exchanged phone numbers and then continued messaging each other, sharing at least one explicit photo apiece, according to the affidavit. During one conversation, Mr. Wilson described himself as a "big deal," the affidavit says.
[...] Neither Mr. Wilson nor his lawyer in the sexual assault case responded to a request for comment. The Austin police said a friend of the victim had told Mr. Wilson before he left for Taiwan that he was under investigation.
Taiwan does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.
Looks like someone else will have to take on the job of defending file sharing in court.
Previously: [Updated] Defense Distributed Releasing Gun Plans, President Trump "Looking Into" It
Federal Judge Imposes Preliminary Injunction Against Defense Distributed's DEFCAD
3D Gun File Downloads Blocked; Selling Begins Instead
3-D gun entrepreneur Cody Wilson accused of paying for sex with underage girl, authorities say
From the Washington Post come this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/09/19/d-gun-entrepreneur-cody-wilson-accused-paying-sex-with-underage-girl-authorities-say/?utm_term=.492c764a26d9
Cody Wilson, a 3-D gunmaker who has become embroiled in a national debate about "downloadable" firearms, has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, according to court documents.
Authorities said Wilson, 30, paid the teenager $500 for sex in a hotel last month in Austin after the two met on a dating website, according to an arrest warrant affidavit that was filed Wednesday in district court in Travis County, Tex. Wilson faces a charge of sexual assault, a second-degree felony, according to the court documents.
A spokeswoman with the Austin Police Department said Wilson has not been arrested. It is unclear why authorities are charging him with sexual assault and whether he has an attorney.
I submit this story because it has to do with certain rights. Not who is right.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @09:36PM (38 children)
Its happened before. Sure he was buying sex where its illegal, but the rest sounds pretty fishy.
Would think he would be smarter than that. Guess not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @09:42PM (26 children)
A setup? Now I know there are some scummy fucking law enforcement people out there, but getting an underage teen to have sex? That is a pretty massive step into the dark side that seems quite likely to backfire. The guy is scummy in the extreme so it seems more likely that his 3D printed gun issue just brought an extra level of scrutiny, and now that website is probably going to be facing some massive investigations itself. Expect some prostitution rings to get busted.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by physicsmajor on Thursday September 20 2018, @09:56PM (19 children)
I will defer comment on his personal life, but what Defense Distributed has been doing is critically important defense of our rights. Unless you want 3D printers to start having big brother inspect every STL file before it does anything, you should also. It is and has always been entirely legal to manufacture firearms yourself for personal use.
His legal justification has always been rock solid, hilariously far from 'scummy in the extreme'.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:18PM (1 child)
This is something of a problem. Even "bad people" perform an act of kindness now and then. And, even saints commit sins. I don't know how good or bad a guy Cody Wilson is, I've never met him, and haven't formed any opinions about him. But, he has been doing good, with his technological work. With these charges, millions have already judged him, so guilty or not, he's a scum bag. More millions will withhold judgement, but if he's found guilty, then he's the scummiest of scum bags. And, NO ONE will remember any good deed that may have been performed by a scum bag.
If you have plans to accomplish big things in life, you need to be among the saintliest of the saints, and never commit a sin.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Alfred on Friday September 21 2018, @02:22PM
i would like to present that he either did it or he didn't and this staement should be expanded to either
or
Because the second option actually happens a lot I expect that it is entirely possible here. If you go down that rabbit hole he may have been tricked or coerced into something that looks like this. Of course if there are those who want him destroyed like this then those people are also those that control the media such that he will never win in the court of public opinion.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:25PM (11 children)
But it is funny, isn't it, how all these libertarian alt-right "free speech" types end up in trouble over sex. The downfall of the Traditionalist Worker's Party (TWerPs?) in an orgy of hillbilly incest [vice.com] is a case in point. Not to mention Milo on pederasty and Anglin hiding out in Thailand. Coincidence? Not to mention Kavanaugh. Oops! Did I mention Kavanaugh?
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:43PM (4 children)
Did you forget Anthony Weiner, Al Franken, Keith Ellison and Tony Cardenas?
(Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:01PM (1 child)
No, but I did mention Kavanaugh. Seems Republicans and other insane right these days equate rape with all other sexual harassment. I have even heard a Faux News operative refer to Kavanaugh's action as "attempted sexual assault". Hmmm, you know, attempted sexual assault is almost always actual sexual assault. Or to put it more bluntly, attempted rape is still sexual assault. Just we the America needs on it's hire court, along with Silent Tom the past sexual harasser. Oh, even consensual sex with a minor is still rape, since children cannot legally consent, even if you pay them $500.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Captival on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:20PM
What a stupid fucking hack. All the same people that are shrieking about this highly suspicious woman and her story which changes multiple times and witnesses who deny her don't seem to care about the Muslim Wife Beater they just re-elected.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @04:56AM (1 child)
I met a reporter who was instrumental to blowing open the Weiner case. He is now jobless, houseless, living on the street.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @06:11AM
MDC??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:48PM
Would you also like to investigate this case?
https://mobile.twitter.com/atensnut?p=s [twitter.com]
I just learned of it, I have no idea why this has been ignored.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:21PM
You forgot Julian Assange
(Score: 3, Informative) by unauthorized on Friday September 21 2018, @04:34AM (3 children)
Libertarian.... alt right? Put down the happy drugs aristarchus, the alt right are very much into state authoritarianism, where as libertarians at most begrudgingly accept small governments as a necessity when they aren't going full ancap.
(Score: 4, Touché) by aristarchus on Friday September 21 2018, @05:15AM (2 children)
My apologies! But in my defense, I did not know what else to call right-wing racist pro-gun pedophiles, besides just "Republican".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @08:13PM (1 child)
as opposed to all of the left-wing, pro-gun (as if that's even a partisan thing? Your poor world view might be shattered if you knew how many lefties want guns), pedophiles?
You're attempting to paint an entire side of the country with the brush only a small but high profile minority are fit for. Same with the Democrat side.
It says far more about you than the people you're attempting to characterize.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday September 21 2018, @10:30PM
Again, sorry if my crude stereotype struck too close to home!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:38PM (2 children)
I wasn't referring to the printed gun aspect, just his decision to use the sugar daddy website, apparently not check the girl's ID or not care, calling himself a "big deal", and having created "hatreon" according to ikanreed.
I agree we shouldn't be making information on gun manufacturing into thought crimes, but I did not mention that in any way. I am not worried that if he goes down then so will the struggle for freedom.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:55PM
Agreed. He was trying to secure a First Amendment right to share gun plans through court decisions. But at the end of the day, hundreds of thousands of people already have those files and any similar files can be shared just as easily as we can "pirate" TV shows and movies. If need be, such plans can be shared on the dark web. So Cody Wilson can be safely discarded into the dustbin of digital liberty history, although it is a minor setback.
Unless he somehow litigates his current cases from far away using his lawyers. But I kinda doubt it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 21 2018, @01:04AM
Yeah, he created hatreon. I clicked enough links this evening to have that verified. Wilson claims it was mostly a joke, which went further than he expected, or some such nonsense. I'm still undecided whether hatreon is all bad, or some good and some bad. I haven't clicked that many links yet.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday September 21 2018, @03:35AM (1 child)
You make it sound like it's him and only him that can pull ahead your beloved gun 3D printing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @08:18PM
So because someone does not believe in censorship they must be in love with it? If you say "I don't think they should discriminate against Jews" does that mean you are a Jew or are in love with them? You're attempting to project that someone must be a gun-nut if they support this, when their motivations might be varied and quite broad.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:05PM
I'd think that rather than a setup, Wilson has been monitored and tracked by Federal intelligence agencies since they became aware of him. Once they see something damning enough to get rid of him with, they approach the girl, threaten her with prison/and or bribe her with cash, and destroy their target. The lesson of this is: if you're gonna be in the anti-authority spotlight, conduct yourself like a saint or get parallel-constructed into oblivion.
(Score: 3, Informative) by anotherblackhat on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:31PM (4 children)
Here's four links I found in under 5 minutes of searching;
https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/courtroom-files/seattle-cop-fired-for-stalking-women-now-accused-of-kidnapping-a-woman-bpaAVWk_L02mpx04d5XO3Q/ [newsmaven.io]
https://abc7news.com/news/exclusive-former-san-mateo-cop-investigated-for-sexual-assaults/1335424/ [abc7news.com]
https://theferret.scot/northern-irish-police-sexual-assaults/ [theferret.scot]
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/05/12/oakland-police-underage-sex-scandal-involves-cop-who-possibly-killed-his-wife [eastbayexpress.com]
Cops are at least as likely as any one else to commit any given crime, including rape and murder.
What's more likely, that a teen prostitute gave herself up to the cops of her own accord, or that the cops put her in that situation to begin with?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:51PM
From the story it said her "counselor" reported it. So she told a school counselor, or psychiatrist, or whatever?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:54PM (2 children)
That is a very different case. I am in no way surprised that cops sexually assault people, but I would be surprised if they tried to frame someone by coercing a minor into prostitution. Now if they did it to blackmail someone I wouldn't be surprised. Two very different scenarios, the one I would be surprised by is the pursuit of "justice" by committing such a crime using a minor. Not only does it violate the idea of justice, but it would be extremely likely they'd get caught and
sentencedwrist slapped.(Score: 4, Insightful) by anotherblackhat on Friday September 21 2018, @12:07AM
Honey trap is so common we have a word for it.
I don't have any trouble believing there are some cops who'd do almost anything - after all there are over a million cops in the U.S.
The idea that one or two might want to nail this guy badly enough to cook something up isn't that far fetched.
And yes, they'd use an underage girl, because then it's "sexual assault" which is a felony instead of just a misdemeanor.
On the other hand, the girl's story is reasonably plausible too.
There's a reason we have trials before we start stringing people up.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 21 2018, @02:36PM
I mean, that's basically what has happened...they just skipped the step where they contact the guy and offer him the ability to buy their silence.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Thursday September 20 2018, @09:55PM (4 children)
Nothing in this guy's history makes me think he "would be smarter than that"
His list of acheivements are: designing a gun that's likely to injure you the third or fourth time you fire it, jumping deep into bitcoin just before the giant-ass crash, and making a knock-off of a popular website but for nazis. These aren't genius innovations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:00PM
It was an alternative to Patreon who were eventually also forced to ban the far-left. You'd probably find igd would have been welcome on hatreon if they were not constantly inciting violence.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:06PM (2 children)
If you're so worried about plastic guns exploding, perhaps you should buy a desktop CNC mill [ghostgunner.net] and make metal gun frames from unfinished blanks? Don't know why that didn't make your list... (Oh wait, I do know why.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @08:45AM (1 child)
Now I want you to mill the upper receiver, from a billet; the barrel, with proper chambering, headspace, rifling and muzzle chamfering, again from raw stock. Now I want you to case-harden and heat treat all the parts that need it, hone to tolerance all that parts that need that, and I want you to personally test-fire your "my first gunsmithing attempt", so that no one else is killed or maimed. What is it about 3d printing that makes everyone so stupid? Where are the 3D printer files for an Ice Cream Sundae, you cretins?
(Score: 3, Touché) by ElizabethGreene on Friday September 21 2018, @01:32PM
Why yes, I am an amateur gunsmith.
You've missed the hard part of building a homemade firearm, rifling the barrel. The other things you describe are fairly easy lathe and hand tool operations. The chambering work specifically is only hard until you learn how to make (or buy) a chamber reamer.
All of that is, of course, moot if your are talking about derp derp zip guns. These can and are made with (literally) plumbing pipe, a pipe cap, a nail, and a rubber band. They manage to make these in prisons of all places.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 20 2018, @11:09PM
"smarter than that?"
If so, he might have tried to keep a lower profile while distributing his online plans.
And an even lower profile on a website where he (allegedly) met the girl. Don't say my name is Cody Wilson and I'm kind of a big deal.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday September 21 2018, @11:51AM (4 children)
Definitely sounds like a setup. Look, the guy is an idiot for hiring a prostitute, especially since he knows that he has a lot of political enemies. That said, consider:
What prostitute recounts her business transactions to a counselor? If she did that, every single client would get busted, seeing as how prostitution is illegal in Texas. Also another comment points out, she isn't an "enslaved" kid if she has a counselor. The whole counselor bit is fishy as hell.
She got paid $500 for less than an hour of her time. That's a hell of a rate. If she has a client who pays that kind of money, she's even less likely to rat him out.
Finally, she's on a site that requires participants to be legal adults. She apparently proved to the site that she was 19, in her correspondence she claimed to be 19, she almost certainly had fake ID to prove that she was 19. "Mens rea" (intent) is supposed to be required for most criminal prosecutions. If Cody Wilson genuinely thought she was an adult, then he is not guilty of statutory rape, it's really that simple.
Really, it smells like a setup. It doesn't even have to be a setup by the authorities - it could be some private group. Regardless, by choosing a crime involving underage girls and sex, they ensure that no one will dare come to his defense.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @02:44PM
Well, that's the thing -- for most criminal prosecutions. In Texas, sex with under-17 is a strict liability felony.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @02:54PM
So the guy bought a tart online. Which means the transaction was know to pretty much everybody since the 4th doesn't apply to digital communications.
So the question for the counseler is: "Who came to you and instructed you to come forward and what leverage did they have?"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 21 2018, @06:13PM (1 child)
Definitely sounds like a setup. Look, the guy is an idiot for hiring a prostitute,
So, OTHER than committing the crime, what did he do wrong?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @08:26PM
It's all about characterization and demonizing someone. Look, I don't think the guy is the greatest person ever, but there are keywords and hot buttons to press when you want to make something look potentially far more heinous than it was. If he legitimately thought was meeting a 19 year old and can prove it, his only crime is soliciting a prostitute which many people believe should be legal anyway. If they can claim he sought out a child he becomes a pedophile (which a 17 year old does not exactly fit into, but only in the case of trying to find every possible thing you can to hurt someone). Pedophile brings out all the special bleeding hearts... even in prison it gets horrible treatment from the other inmates. This isn't to minimize the severity of pedophilia. That's a truly horrible crime. It's also a handy tool to make the public hate someone without having to provide real proof.