Gymnastics coach gets 90 years in girls bathroom recordings case

A erstwhile salient younker gymnastics manager was sentenced to 90 years successful situation Wednesday for secretly signaling his young pistillate students undressing and utilizing the bath astatine a Mississippi gym, successful a lawsuit that rocked the sport.

U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson gave the maximum condemnation imaginable to Sean Gardner, ordering that helium service 30 years successful situation for each of the 3 national kid pornography accumulation charges to which helium pleaded guilty. The condemnation apt amounts to beingness successful situation for Gardner, 39.

Gardner's apprehension past summertime by the FBI, archetypal reported by The Associated Press, renewed questions astir whether U.S. gymnastics authorities had done capable to support athletes from intersexual maltreatment astatine the hands of an influential coach.

Gardner pleaded guilty to placing a hidden camera successful a bath astatine a gymnastics workplace successful Purvis, Mississippi, betwixt December 2017 and April 2018 to grounds his students. Investigators accidental helium created videos showing close-up images of astatine slightest 10 minors bare oregon undressing, which they recovered from his computers years aboriginal portion investigating claims that helium sexually abused gymnasts successful Iowa.

Investigators seized astir 50 videos and 400 photos from Gardner's residence arsenic evidence, according to an FBI affidavit. Gardner is allegedly seen turning disconnected the camera successful 1 of the videos.

Several of his erstwhile students astatine Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute successful West Des Moines, Iowa, person alleged to constabulary and successful civilian lawsuits that helium utilized his presumption to prey connected them. The institute was founded by salient manager Liang "Chow" Qiao, who is known for producing Olympic champions. Gardner coached respective younker prospects and served arsenic manager of an yearly wintertime conscionable that drew hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa.

Gardner has not been charged successful transportation with immoderate of the Iowa allegations, and constabulary person said they would hold to find however to proceed aft the national lawsuit concludes.

One of Gardner's erstwhile students told CBS News successful May 2026 that Gardner was charismatic and that she was truthful young, she didn't recognize her coach's behaviour was abnormal, particularly astatine the extremity of practice.

"Each of america would enactment up to get a hug, and helium would buss america connected our forehead, and pat america each connected the butt," Liberty Raines, who was 11 years aged erstwhile she joined Jump'In Gymnastics successful Purvis, said.

She added that ritual ended astir each practice. "It was truthful normalized," Raines said. "I don't deliberation immoderate of america thought thing of it."

The parent of different young Mississippi gymnast alerted USA Gymnastics via email astir her concerns regarding Gardner's behavior. Separately, Gardner's brag successful Mississippi said successful an email that she told USA Gymnastics astir Gardner's "grooming behavior" successful January 2018.

Gardner would aboriginal determination to Chow's gym successful Iowa successful 2018, wherever helium began coaching Finley Weldon, a skilled 11-year-old gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Weldon told CBS News successful an interrogation past twelvemonth that Gardner acted "weird" from the start, making inappropriate jokes and asking teen girls astir their enactment lives.

"I knew thing was not truly close astir him," Weldon said.

Weldon says Gardner would interaction her inappropriately portion she was stretching and portion helium was spotting her during her gymnastics training.

The civilian lawsuits against Gardner person alleged the sport's oversight bodies, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, were told astir inappropriate behaviour by Gardner successful 2017 but failed to instrumentality enactment to region him from the athletics for years. SafeSport temporarily suspended Gardner successful 2022 aft a Chow's gymnast alleged intersexual abuse, and Chow's fired him then.

SafeSport has said it learned during its probe that Chow and different coaches had been alert of allegations of intersexual misconduct against Gardner but failed to study them to the halfway arsenic required by its policy.

Jake Rosenwasser contributed to this report.

In:

• Mississippi
• USA Gymnastics