Ex-Mississippi gymnastic coach plans guilty plea in child pornography case
By Mina Corpuz | Originally published by Mississippi Today
A former gymnastics coach accused of making recordings in a bathroom in Mississippi and abusing athletes in other states is set to plead guilty to federal child porography charges.
Sean Gardner plans to change his plea to guilty for three of the 10 charges for which he has been indicted for, according to a Tuesday court filing.
He was arrested in August of 2025 afterfollowing state and federal investigations and reporting by the Associated Press.
Gardner once worked at Jump In Gymnastics and Tumbling in Purvis from 2014 and 2018. He placed a hidden video camera in the bathroom, capturing footage of children changing and using the toilet, according to court records.
He kept those videos, which werethat video, which was found last year on electronic devices that West Des Moines, Iowa, police seized while executing a search warrant at his home in Iowa, according to court documents. In all, 50 videos and 400 pictures were recovered, including some that appeared to be child pornography, according to court records.
In recent court motions, Gardner tried to argue the search warrant and probable cause weren’t valid because they were based on years-old allegations. His attorney also tried to have the indictment dismissed, arguing that the material found on his devices wasn’t child pornography.
Before Mississippi, Gardner coached gymnastics in Louisiana. In 2018, he went to West Des Moines, Iowa to work at Chows Gymnastics and Dance, an elite academy known to train Olympic champions.
Four years later, he was suspended from coaching and having contact with all gymnasts. His name was placed on a ban list belonging to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a watchdog group formed after USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was imprisoned for sexually abusing female gymnasts for years.
Gardner’s coaching suspension came months after an Iowa girl reported to SafeSport that he used “inappropriate spotting techniques” in which he would put his hands between her legs, according to an FBI affidavit reported on by AP.
Then the center received another report from another girl alleging “sexual contact and physical abuse” by Gardner and similar fondling during workouts.
Those reports were shared with the West Des Moines police, whose investigation stalled when victims did not come forward, AP reported. The case reopened in 2024 when a former Chows Gymnastics student reported Gardner also touched her during exercises and talked about his sex life.
Several students in Iowa have filed lawsuits against USA Gymnastics and SafeSport for failing to stop Gardner’s abuse, alleging he inappropriately touched them and groomed them.
Gardner has a hearing scheduled for April 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court of Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
