Man accused of drugs-for-sex scheme in Boalsburg with underage girl. What we know
A man was charged Friday with what State College police described as an agreement to trade drugs to a mother in exchange for sex with her underage daughter, a teenage runaway found by officers this month hidden under a pile of blankets in a Boalsburg home.
Michael G. Gnudi, 34, of Luzerne County, is facing three new felony charges — and five overall — after borough police said they uncovered drugs-for-sex dealing dating back to 2024.
He was further accused of storing sexually explicit photos of the teen on his cellphone and providing her with methamphetamine. An email sent Saturday to Centre County Deputy Public Defender Patrick Klena outside of normal business hours was not immediately returned.
Gnudi was arraigned Friday night by District Judge Steven Lachman, who set bail at $250,000. He is incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
The search for the teen began this month in Lackawanna County after her father learned her cellphone was hidden under the outside stairs of a friend’s house. He told investigators she deliberately left the phone behind to elude his attempts to view her location and suspected she was with Gnudi, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Police said Snapchat showed she was near the Walmart along Benner Pike and officers later identified an address for Gnudi on the 700 block of Boal Avenue. They found his vehicle in the driveway, according to the affidavit.
Gnudi was visibly shaking when officers told him they were investigating a missing person, police wrote. After consenting to a search of the home, officers said he appeared to direct them away from a bedroom that had a suitcase and drink.
The teen was found hidden under a pile of blankets, police wrote. During an interview Wednesday, she told investigators Gnudi gave her drugs and had sex with her twice while she was reported missing.
“This man groomed me so much, to the point I thought he loved me,” police quoted her as saying. She said the relationship with Gnudi began when she was 14 years old.
Her father previously told investigators the relationship was an ongoing issue and that she was “brainwashed that Gnudi is in love with her and that they will be together,” police wrote.
The girl said she was introduced to Gnudi by her mother. Gnudi would provide her mother with meth, cocaine and heroin in exchange for sex with her daughter, police wrote. Her father said an investigation is ongoing in Lackawanna County.
The 17-year-old teen also said Gnudi gave her drugs, including marijuana laced with meth.
A review of her cellphone showed conversations between her and Gnudi across several social media apps, which police said demonstrated Gnudi’s efforts to maintain contact and control over her.
Police said Gnudi admitted to having sex with her, as well as driving her from Lackawanna County to Boalsburg. She has since been returned to the custody of her father, borough police wrote in a press release.
In addition to patronizing a victim of sexual servitude, Gnudi is facing felony counts of possessing child sexual abuse material, concealment of a child, interfering with the custody of a child and possession with intent to deliver. He’s also charged with a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.
It wasn’t immediately known what, if anything, the mother might be charged with.
Gnudi’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.