A former gymnastics coach who once worked at a Prairieville gym has been arrested for allegedly producing child sex abuse images in Mississippi, prompting the FBI to ask any Louisiana victims to contact the agency.
Sean Gardner is charged with producing child sexual abuse images at a Mississippi gym, according to an Aug. 14 criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. An affidavit written by an agent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation attached to the complaint also alleges he sexually abused gymnasts at an Iowa gym starting in 2018.
Gardner worked at the Athletes In Motion gym in Prairieville between 2004 and 2014, the FBI said in a news release. The FBI said it believes he may have targeted children at the facility and asked victims to share information with the bureau.
An attorney for Gardner was not listed in court records. Athletes in Motion addressed the situation in a Facebook post Wednesday.
“We are not aware of the details of the investigation and this individual has not been employed by our facility in over 10 years. We are cooperating with the authorities, and we will continue to do so,” the post stated.
“Athlete safety is a priority at Athletes In Motion,” it continued. “We have coached athletes in our community for over 40 years and care deeply about the safety of all athletes in our sport. AIM is a member of USA Gymnastics and our coaches are SafeSport certified.”
The FBI said that, after working at the Prairieville gym, Gardner coached at Jump'In Gymnastics & Tumbling in Purvis, Mississippi, between 2014 and 2018, and then at Chows Gymnastics in West Des Moines, Iowa, from 2018 to 2022.
In May, the West Des Moines Police Department seized several electronic devices from Gardner’s residence and found child sex abuse images on them, the affidavit alleged. It added that the bureau identified some of the images as being produced at the Mississippi gym.