A man accused of concealing a missing teen at a Boalsburg residence is now facing charges alleging that he supplied drugs to her mother in exchange for sex with the girl.
The now 17-year-old girl from Lackawanna County told State College police in an April 15 interview that her relationship with 34-year-old Michael G. Gnudi, of Luzerne County, began when she was 14, according to an affidavit of probable cause. He made an arrangement to provide her mother with methamphetamine and in return the mother gave Gnudi consent to engage in a relationship with the girl, police wrote.
When first found by police on April 6, the girl said she had fabricated earlier accusations of being trafficked by Gnudi and her mother, who has not been identified in criminal complaints. But in the follow-up interview with borough investigators, she said she had been groomed to participate in a drugs-for-sex scheme, police wrote.
“This man groomed me so much, to the point I thought he was in love with me,” she said, according to the affidavit.
She described her physical relationship with Gnudi, recounting specific locations of sexual encounters, and said that he had given her drugs, including marijuana and methamphetamine, police wrote. She also turned over romantic letters Gnudi wrote her and said she discovered he had nude photos of her in a hidden folder on his phone, according to the affidavit.
A search of the girl’s own phone revealed messages from October through April that “demonstrated Gnudi’s efforts to maintain contact with… and control over her, while physically separated from her,” police wrote. Messages also allegedly showed Gnudi’s planning to remove her from her home.
The girl’s father reported her missing from her Old Forge home on April 5 and that he believed she was traveling with Gnudi. She left her cell phone at a friend’s home where she was supposed to be staying, but in a Snapchat message to a contact shared her location as being at the Benner Pike Walmart in College Township, police wrote.
Borough police identified an address associated with Gnudi on the 700 block of Boal Avenue and found his vehicle parked in the driveway, according to the affidavit. Gnudi was “visibly shaking” when he answered the door and officers informed him they were investigating a missing person, police wrote.
Police found the girl hiding under a pile of blankets in a bedroom. Gnudi initially denied knowing who was in the bedroom but later admitted that the girl had called him and asked him for help, according to the affidavit.
The girl told police that Gnudi had been living with her mother until April 2 and said that Gnudi picked her up on April 4, then drove her to his relative’s residence in Boalsburg. During the follow-up interview, the girl said that she was “on drugs” given to her by Gnudi during her stay at the Boalsburg residence, according to the affidavit.
After being notified that the girl was located, her father, who has sole custody, said that she was “brainwashed that Gnudi is in love with her and they will be together,” police wrote. He also said that the relationship has been an ongoing issue, and that he was suspicious she had continued to communicate with Gnudi without his approval.
He told police that the girl’s mother, from whom he is separated, had an agreement with Gnudi to provide her with drugs in exchange for allowing him to have sex with the girl, according to the affidavit. He said an investigation into the accusations is open in Lackawanna County.
Gnudi allegedly admitted to police that he drove the girl from Lackawanna County to Centre County and had sex with her at the Boalsburg residence.
He was initially arraigned on April 9 on charges including concealment of a child, interference with the custody of a child and corruption of minors.
Gnudi was charged Friday with additional felony counts of patronizing a victim of human trafficking, child sexual abuse material and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
He was arraigned by District Judge Steven Lachman and was unable to post $250,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
