US youth gymnastics coach Sean Gardner sentenced to 90 years over secret filming of minors

The sentence

A US federal judge sentenced Sean Gardner, 39, to 90 years in prison on Wednesday, 14 October, the maximum term possible in the case. U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson imposed 30 years for each of the three federal charges of producing child pornography, to which Gardner had pleaded guilty. The term is likely to amount to life in prison for him. Gardner had worked as a youth gymnastics coach, and the FBI arrested him in the summer of 2025, an arrest first reported by the Associated Press. The federal charges centred on recordings he made of minors.

The hidden camera

Between December 2017 and April 2018, Gardner hid a camera inside a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, to record his young female students while they undressed or used the bathroom. Investigators say the recordings include at least 10 minors who were naked or undressing, and that some of the videos contain close-up images. Investigators found the footage on his computers years later, while they were examining claims that he had sexually abused gymnasts in Iowa. The people recorded were minors, all of them young female gymnasts.

Iowa allegations and no charges

Several former students at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have told police and filed civil lawsuits saying Gardner took advantage of his position to abuse them. The institute was founded by coach Liang "Chow" Qiao, who is known for producing Olympic champions. Gardner coached several youth prospects there and directed an annual winter meet that drew hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa. He has not been charged over any of the Iowa allegations. Police have said they will decide how to proceed once the federal case has concluded.

Oversight bodies under scrutiny

Lawsuits contend that USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport were told about inappropriate conduct by Gardner in 2017, yet did not act for years to remove him from the sport. SafeSport temporarily suspended him in 2022 after a Chow's gymnast alleged sexual abuse, and Chow's fired him at that point. SafeSport has said its investigation found Chow and other coaches had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Gardner but did not report them to the center, as its policy requires. Similar questions arose in 2021, when Olympic gymnasts told a Senate hearing that authorities and sports officials had not followed up their tips about Larry Nassar, a former US gymnastics doctor who has since been convicted. His arrest renewed questions about whether US gymnastics authorities had done enough to protect athletes from influential coaches. Several civil suits against Gardner, USA Gymnastics and his former employer, Chow's, remain pending.