A prominent gymnastics coach has been arrested on a child pornography charge three years after being suspended from coaching.
Sean Gardner, who worked at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions, was taken into custody by the FBI last week.
The arrest came three years after Gardner was suspended from coaching at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa. Gardner moved from Mississippi to Iowa in 2018 to take the job.
In court records obtained by the Associated Press, Gardner was accused of sexually abusing at least three young gymnasts at Chow’s and secretly recording others undressing in a gym bathroom at his prior job at Jump’In Gymnastics & Tumbling in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
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Chow’s is best known for being the gym where U.S. gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas trained before becoming gold medalists at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, respectively.
Us Weekly has reached out to Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute and Jump’In Gymnastics & Tumbling for comment.
Gardner’s case has still not been resolved by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which was created in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and is responsible for handling sex abuse cases in Olympic sports.
In May, West Des Moines police executed a search warrant at Gardner’s home, leading to the recovery of photos and videos on his computer and cell phone of nude young girls, according to the court records.
An affidavit released by the FBI on August 15 detailed some of the alleged abuses carried out by Gardner.
A girl reported to SafeSport in March 2022 that Gardner used “inappropriate spotting techniques” during training, in which he would put his hands between her legs and touch her vagina.
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The same girl said Gardner would allegedly ask girls if they were sexually active and call them “idiots, sluts and whores.” She listed the names of six other potential victims, one of whom came forward in August 2022 alleging “sexual contact and physical abuse” at the hands of Gardner.
SafeSport suspended Gardner in July 2022, four months after the initial allegations of abuse, but a potential criminal investigation stalled after none of the alleged victims wanted to press criminal charges.
The case against Gardner saw no progress until April 2024, when another former student of Gardner’s at Chow’s came forward with abuse allegations.
Gardner appeared in a Des Moines courtroom on August 15 on a charge of producing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which can carry up to 30 years in prison.
