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Following an official notification yesterday by the US government that Wilson’s US passport has been revoked and that he is a wanted fugitive, local law enforcement agencies stepped up their manhunt and apprehended him at Your Hotel.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As his passport has been revoked, he is no longer eligible for the visa-free stay and will therefore be deported, the NIA said, adding that US authorities would take over the case.
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