The FBI arrested gymnastics coach Sean Gardner on federal child pornography charges after allegations of sexual abuse at an Iowa gym where Olympic champions have trained.
Last week the FBI arrested gymnastics coach Sean Gardner, 38, on a federal child pornography charge. The arrest comes more than three years after he was suspended from coaching at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, for alleged sexual abuse.
Court records obtained by The Associated Press show 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 previous place of employment at Jump’In Gymnastics & Tumbling in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Chow’s is the gym where U.S. gymnast stars Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas trained before becoming gold medalists at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Gardner told the ABC affiliate WOI-TV in 2019 that his position at Chow’s was the job he’s «always wanted.»
«This is the job that I’ve always wanted. Chow is really someone I have looked up to since I’ve been coaching», Gardner told the station. «And you can tell when you step foot in the gym, just even from coaching the girls, the culture that he’s built. It’s amazing.
