A gymnastics coach who secretly filmed young girls undressing and using the bathroom has been sentenced to 90 years in prison. Sean Gardner installed a hidden camera inside a bathroom at a gymnastics facility in Purvis, Mississippi, where he recorded his students without their knowledge between December 2017 and April 2018.
The 39-year-old produced videos containing close-up footage of at least 10 minors naked or getting undressed, according to authorities. The footage was discovered on Gardner's computers years later as investigators looked into separate allegations that he had sexually abused gymnasts in Iowa.
Maximum Sentence Imposed
Gardner pleaded guilty to three federal charges of producing child pornography. On Wednesday, US District Judge Kristi Johnson handed him the maximum possible sentence of 30 years for each charge, giving him a total prison term of 90 years.
The case has also raised questions over how concerns about the once prominent coach were handled within US gymnastics.
Background at Chow's Gymnastics
Gardner previously worked at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, which was founded by renowned coach Liang "Chow" Qiao. He trained young gymnasts there and was director of an annual winter competition which attracted hundreds of athletes to Iowa.
Several former students have since made allegations against Gardner to authorities and through civil lawsuits. He has not been charged over any of the allegations in Iowa. Police have said they would wait until the federal case was over before deciding how to proceed.
SafeSport and Legal Proceedings
Lawyers representing some of the women have also alleged that USA Gymnastics and the US Center for SafeSport were told about inappropriate behaviour involving Gardner in 2017 but failed to remove him from the sport for years. SafeSport temporarily suspended Gardner in 2022 after a gymnast at Chow's reported sexual abuse, while the gym terminated his employment at the same time.
SafeSport later said its investigation found that Chow and other coaches had known about allegations of sexual misconduct against Gardner but had failed to report them to the organisation as required under its policy. The organisation was named in two lawsuits accusing it of failing to properly investigate Gardner. However, a judge dismissed SafeSport as a defendant from those cases in May after finding it was entitled to immunity under federal law. Several lawsuits involving Gardner, USA Gymnastics and Chow's Gymnastics remain pending.
