US coach who recorded young gymnasts undressing is sentenced to 90 years in prison

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A once prominent youth gymnastics coach was sentenced to 90 years in prison Wednesday for secretly recording his young female students undressing and using the bathroom at a Mississippi gym, in a case that rocked the sport.

U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson gave the maximum sentence possible to Sean Gardner, ordering that he serve 30 years in prison for each of the three federal child pornography production charges to which he pleaded guilty. The sentence likely amounts to life in prison for Gardner, 39.

Gardner's arrest last summer by the FBI, first reported by The Associated Press, renewed questions about whether U.S. gymnastics authorities had done enough to protect athletes from sexual abuse at the hands of an influential coach.

Gardner pleaded guilty to placing a hidden camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, between December 2017 and April 2018 to record his students. Investigators say he created videos showing close-up images of at least 10 minors naked or undressing, which they recovered from his computers years later while investigating claims that he sexually abused gymnasts in Iowa.

Several of his former students at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have alleged to police and in civil lawsuits that he used his position to prey on them. The institute was founded by prominent coach Liang “Chow” Qiao, who is known for producing Olympic champions. Gardner coached several youth prospects and served as director of an annual winter meet that drew hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa.

Gardner has not been charged in connection with any of the Iowa allegations, and police have said they would wait to determine how to proceed after the federal case concludes.

The lawsuits have also alleged the sport's oversight bodies, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, were told about inappropriate behavior by Gardner in 2017 but failed to take action to remove him from the sport for years. SafeSport temporarily suspended Gardner in 2022 after a Chow's gymnast alleged sexual abuse, and Chow's fired him then.

SafeSport has said it learned during its investigation that Chow and other coaches had been aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against Gardner but failed to report them to the center as required by its policy.