Man admits to improper contact
Lower Salford resident to be sentenced for his online relationship with then-16-year-old
A Lower Salford man has admitted to having an inappropriate, sexually charged online relationship with a 16-yearold girl he met at church.
Anthony Peter Gdonski, 40, of the 400 block of Ruth Court, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a felony charge of sexual abuse of children, under child pornography statutes, in connection with incidents that occurred in 2016 when he was 38 and the girl was 16. Judge Wendy G. Rothstein deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete drug, alcohol and psychosexual evaluations of Gdonski.
The judge will use those evaluations to assist her in fashioning Gdonski’s sentence later this year.
Gdonski will remain in the jail pending his formal sentencing hearing but will be permitted to enroll in the jail’s work release program during that time.
Gdonski faces a possible maximum sentence of five to 10 years in prison on the charge. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
With the charge, prosecutors alleged Gdonski used online applications such as Skype to solicit
nude videos of the girl.
“It’s certainly a jail case. It’s unfortunately frequent that older people will prey against minors and the easiest way to do so when they think they’re not going to get caught is to use the Internet. That’s what happened here. They ended up communicating with each other over Skype,” county
Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Beeson alleged.
“There’s also a significant age gap between him and the victim, he being 38 at the time and she being approximately 16 years old,” Beeson added.
The investigation began on Sept. 6, 2016, when the mother of the teenage girl reported to state police at Skippack that she had become aware of the inappropriate relationship between Gdonski and her daughter. The girl and Gdonski met
while attending the same church in Spring Mount, according to court papers.
The mother of the girl told police she observed “concerning” Facebook messages sent between the girl and Gdonski.
When police confronted Gdonski about the allegations, he admitted communicating with the girl on Facebook where the girl informed him she was 16.
“Gdonski related that he and the victim’s relationship began to progress and
‘snowballed into us getting closer,’” state police Trooper Brendan Shearn wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the pair began to discuss sexual situations via Facebook and later via Skype and a cellphone provided by Gdonski.
Gdonski admitted that he and the girl talked “dirty stuff” while using Skype and that he viewed naked images of the girl and masturbated during some of the conversations, according to the criminal complaint.