A former gymnastics coach was sentenced to 90 years in prison for secretly videotaping young female athletes while they were changing clothes or using the restroom at a Mississippi gym where he worked, federal prosecutors announced.
Sean Gardner of Iowa had been arrested in August 2025. The sentence was handed down after the 39-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts related to the production of child pornography.
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“Today’s conviction sends an unequivocal message: those who target our children will be tracked down, prosecuted, and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. “The sentence ensures that Gardner will spend the rest of his life paying the price for the devastating harm he caused.”
According to prosecutors, the defendant secretly filmed underage female gymnasts in the restroom of a gym in Pervis, during his tenure as a coach there, between 2017 and 2018. The investigation into the coach began after the U.S. Center for SafeSport received complaints about Gardner’s inappropriate behavior toward underage female athletes, prosecutors said. SafeSport then notified law enforcement authorities. According to prosecutors, during a search of his home in Iowa, authorities found images and videos on electronic devices showing minors changing clothes. Many of the videos, which appear to have been recorded with a hidden camera, depicted minors who were identified as Gardner’s former students at the gym.
Gardner has also been accused of sexually abusing gymnasts in Iowa, where he worked as a coach at “Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute” in West Des Moines — a renowned school known for training Olympians. His former students at the academy filed complaints with the police — and detailed in lawsuits— that the defendant allegedly sexually exploited them during his tenure as their coach. Gardner has been criminally charged only in connection with the secret videotaping of his former students in Mississippi. ““Sean Gardner committed horrific and unforgivable acts, manipulating and abusing children, while betraying the deep trust their families placed in him,” said the special agent in charge of the FBI field office. “This is a defining moment: justice has been served. His victims can find comfort in knowing that he will never again have the opportunity to harm another child.”
*photo source: AP
