Sean Gardner, a 39-year-old former youth gymnastics coach, was sentenced to 90 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of secretly recording young female students undressing and using the bathroom at a Mississippi gym. The sentence was the maximum possible span that U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson could issue.
Gardner was ordered to serve 30 years in prison for each of the three federal child pornography production charges, which he pleaded guilty to. He was arrested by the FBI last summer, and the charges against him sent a shock wave through the sport. The case is the latest in a series of high-profile instances of sexual abuse in the world of gymnastics.
Gardner had pleaded guilty to placing a hidden camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, between December 2017 and April 2018. An investigation found that he created videos with close-up images of at least 10 minors naked or undressing. The videos were discovered on his computers years later while investigators were looking into claims that he was sexually abusing gymnasts in Iowa.
Some of Gardner's former students at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have claimed that he used his position to prey on them, citing these allegations in police reports and civil lawsuits. Gardner was a key coach for top youth gymnasts at the institute, which was founded by prominent coach Liang "Chow" Qiao.
NTC Report coverage is based on reporting from the original publisher.
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