A former high-profile youth gymnastics coach was sentenced Wednesday to 90 years in federal prison after secretly filming young female athletes as they undressed and used the bathroom at a Mississippi gym, a case that sent shock waves through the sport.
US District Judge Kristi Johnson imposed the maximum penalty on Sean Gardner, 39, ordering three consecutive 30-year prison terms for federal charges involving the production of child pornography. The sentence is effectively a life term.
Gardner’s arrest by the FBI last summer, first reported by The Associated Press, reignited scrutiny over whether US gymnastics officials had done enough to protect athletes from abuse by a powerful coach.
Gardner pleaded guilty to installing a concealed camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi. Prosecutors said he used it between December 2017 and April 2018 to record young athletes who trained there.
Investigators recovered footage from Gardner’s computers years later while examining allegations that he had sexually abused gymnasts in Iowa. The videos contained close-up images of at least 10 minors who were naked or in the process of undressing.
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Several former students at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have told police and alleged in civil lawsuits that Gardner exploited his position to prey on them.
The institute was founded by Liang “Chow” Qiao, a prominent coach credited with developing Olympic champions. Gardner trained several promising young gymnasts and directed the institute’s annual winter meet, an event that attracted hundreds of athletes to Iowa.
Gardner has not been charged over the Iowa allegations. Police have said they will decide how to proceed once the federal case is completed.
The civil lawsuits also accuse USA Gymnastics and the US Center for SafeSport of receiving reports about Gardner’s inappropriate conduct in 2017, yet failing to act for years to prevent him from remaining in the sport.
SafeSport suspended Gardner on an interim basis in 2022 after a Chow’s gymnast reported sexual abuse. Chow’s then terminated Gardner’s employment.
SafeSport said its investigation found that Chow and other coaches had known about allegations of sexual misconduct involving Gardner but did not report them to the center, as required under its policies.
