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Former Gymnastics Coach Sentenced to 90 Years for Secretly Filming Minors
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News18•15-10-2026, 10:34
Former Gymnastics Coach Sentenced to 90 Years for Secretly Filming Minors
- •Sean Gardner received the maximum prison term of 90 years after pleading guilty to three federal charges of child pornography production.
- •The 39-year-old former coach secretly installed a concealed camera in a bathroom at a Mississippi gymnastics studio to record young female athletes between 2017 and 2018.
- •The illicit recordings were uncovered during a separate investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving Gardner at an Iowa gymnastics institute.
- •Attorneys claim that oversight bodies like USA Gymnastics and SafeSport were informed of inappropriate conduct as early as 2017 but failed to act promptly.
- •Multiple civil lawsuits involving Gardner, USA Gymnastics, and Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute remain pending.
Key Questions Answered
U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson sentenced former youth gymnastics coach Sean Gardner to 90 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three federal charges of child pornography production.
Gardner installed a concealed camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, and used it to record students undressing between December 2017 and April 2018.
Former students of Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines accused Gardner of exploiting his coaching role to sexually abuse them, though he has not been criminally charged in Iowa.
