Cody Wilson, the Austin resident who was behind the legal fight over 3D-printed guns before authorities arrested him on sexual assault charges last year, is being accused of more crimes related to an incident involving a 16-year-old.
A Travis County grand jury indicted Wilson, 30, on charges of indecency with a child by contact and indecency with a child by exposure, both second-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Wilson was previously charged with sexually assaulting a minor, a crime that led to his arrest in September. Grand jurors also indicted Wilson, who has a court hearing Feb. 1, on that charge.
Wilson’s defense lawyer, F. Andino Reynal of Houston, said he is disappointed by the grand jury’s decision.
“Mr. Wilson at all times believed reasonably that the complaining witness was a consenting adult,” he 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.”
Wilson is out of jail on a $150,000 bond. Before Christmas, state District Judge Brad Urrutia granted a request from Wilson to travel to Arkansas for the holidays.
The new charges, which grand jurors issued Dec. 28, stem from the same encounter in August.
Austin police charged Wilson after they said he met a 16-year-old girl through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com. The site’s homepage says participants must be at least 18 to have an account.
An arrest affidavit says the two met in the parking lot of an Austin coffee shop before going to a hotel. The girl told investigators that Wilson paid her $500 after the two had sex, the document says, and dropped her off in a Whataburger parking lot.
Reynal said the teen recently had a birthday and is now an adult.
Wilson came into the national spotlight after his company, Defense Distributed, publicized online instructions for making untraceable plastic guns with a 3D printer. In August, a federal judge ruled in favor of 19 states and Washington, D.C., and blocked the company from posting the instructions, which were available to download for free. The company responded by selling them at a name-your-own price.
Wilson was arrested in Taipei after he traveled abroad. He resigned from Defense Distributed soon after his arrest.
He has been noticeably silent on Twitter with his most recent tweeting being prior to his arrest.
“He’s taking it one day at a time,” Reynal said. “Obviously, this is not the kind of situation that anyone would ever wish to go through.”
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© 2019 Austin American-Statesman, Texas
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