PALMER TWP., Pa. — The stepfather of a Northampton County teenager who disappeared this year has been charged with illegally recording phone calls with Palmer Township Police.
John Gehrmann, 44, has been charged with four third-degree felony counts, including two counts of intercepting communications and two counts of disclosing intercepted communications.
Gerhmann’s stepdaughter, teen Enci “Aubrey” Wu, went missing in January, attracting national attention before she was discovered safe in Georgia in April.
During a conversation with police, Gehrmann mentioned having a recording of a conversation with a minor regarding Enci Wu’s whereabouts.
Palmer Township Police affidavit
According to a criminal complaint, off-duty Detective Brian Strong received a call from Gehrmann and his wife, JiaJie Wu, the teen’s mother.
Wu and Gehrmann allegedly expressed frustration at the detective for not providing updates and not following up with them regarding the case.
Neither Wu nor Gehrmann informed or asked permission of the detective to record the conversation, the criminal complaint states.
Strong informed the two that recent updates about the case had been provided via the Northampton County District Attorney’s office, along with a news release detailing that there were no new leads.
Strong told them Palmer Township Police department had followed up with any tips from the agency.
Wu and Gehrmann said they were upset because the felt Palmer Police were not properly investigating a person they had suspected of being involved in Enci Wu’s disappearance.
They further said police had not looked into information about the woman’s social media posts and an alleged meeting with the girl on Jan. 11.
During that conversation, Gehrmann mentioned having a recording of a conversation with a minor regarding Enci Wu’s whereabouts.
Police: Calls recorded
State Police contacted Strong on April 3, telling him they had received a video of Gehrmann posting on the Facebook page “aubreysNotfound.”
The video, posted April 2, was a live stream labeled “REWARD MONEY DRAMA UPDATE,” and mentioned a phone call recording of Strong’s conversation with Gehrmann in March.
In the video, Gehrmann discusses the award money contributions and how he believed Palmer Police had failed to manage the funds and tips provided to them.
Strong stated he had no knowledge of that phone conversation, and never consented to being recorded.
Palmer Township police affidavit
Gehrmann also discussed a conversation with Strong, referring to Strong “scoffing” at him and his wife.
He went on to state he would use the contents of the recording and the recorded conversation with Strong during a rally set for April 5.
Strong stated he had no knowledge of that phone conversation, and never consented to being recorded.
During the investigation, police reviewed additional videos provided by a young man on the Facebook group.
Through the investigation, a post from Gehrmann was discovered with several partial recorded conversations among Gehrmann, the mother and her son.
The calls were recorded using a Ring in-home surveillance camera.
In the clip, the mother said the phone conversation was on Jan 11. Police observed the recorded call in a video posted on Facebook on Feb. 22.
The video clearly shows Wu and Gehrmann in the dining room and the living room of their home, with the conversation with the mother and son on speakerphone, with the Ring camera recording.
The recording covers the time when Gehrmann contacted the young man on Jan 11 and discussed Aubrey Wu allegedly being with an older woman.
‘The police won’t do anything’
On Feb. 22, the mother confirmed the person talking with Gehrmann was her son.
One of the recorded conversations shows Gehrmann identifying himself and asking the young man to “bring me up to speed quickly” about the situation.
The young man responds, “So what happened was she was texting me and she stopped texting me. Her friends told me she ran away.”
Gehrmann confirms the young man is correct.
The young man goes on to say that about 7:40 p.m., Wu had contacted him “on some random number,” and he had picked up to see if it was a spam call or a family member.
They young man said it was Wu on the call, and he proceeded to ask her what was happening.
“She asked me to meet at the curb of my street which is in the Parkland area,” he said. “She was with this random lady in this SUV, that she’s not related to.”
Gehrmann asked for a description of the woman before the mother spoke, stating, “Um, so basically it was a lady in an SUV” before the call ended.
In another posted recorded conversation, the mother of the young man stated that was not the entire conversation in the previous post.
A transcript shows the mother telling Gehrmann, “The police won’t do anything; I’ve been in foster care.”
Gehrmann states Wu had not been in foster care, and “we are working to have the State of Pennsylvania take custody of [her]” before the recording abruptly ends.
‘What are we supposed to be doing?’
In a third post of recorded conversation, the young man speaks with Gehrmann; the mother stated that was the entire conversation.
Gehrmann alleges the woman he suspected of being involved with Wu’s disappearance would not respond to his calls, and that “this woman believes she is protecting our daughter from us.”
Gehrmann asked the young man if the woman in question had intended to take Wu out of the state, and the young man says, said he felt the woman would turn over Wu to someone “obviously probably not good.”
Police viewed a video of Wu and Gehrmann at the rally, where Gehrmann admitted to disclosing and playing the recorded phone call with another Facebook user.
Palmer Township police affidavit
He said Wu was “under the impression that you guys are doing horrible things to her.”
Police said the mother said she had no knowledge of the Jan. 11 call, and did not consent to be recorded.
On April 3, Chief County Detective Bradford Jones stated he had received a call from Wu’s stepfather in which he admitted to illegally recording the conversation with the mother and her son.
On April 5, police viewed a video of Wu and Gehrmann at the rally, where Gehrmann admitted to disclosing and playing the recorded phone call with another Facebook user.
In the live stream, the woman who received the recorded call confirmed she had heard it.
During the livestream, Gehrmann plays the call via a speaker for the crowd.
In the call, Strong tells Gehrmann police are doing the best they can with limited information, including the last location in which Wu had logged onto her iCloud account.
Gehrmann proceeded to ask, “I mean, what are we supposed to be doing with her iCloud?” He then questioned what the man who had contacted Wu was doing with her photos.
Strong suggests he would contact his chief before the call ends.
Gehrmann faced three third-degree misdemeanor counts of harassment in March 2025, with officials alleging he continuously harassed a person he suspected of playing a part in the disappear of his stepdaughter.
That case was transferred to county court in May.