Sean Gardner sentenced to 90 years in federal prison

Sean Gardner was sentenced to 90 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to three charges of producing illegal child imagery, following the discovery of hidden-camera recordings made at a Mississippi gymnastics studio. U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson ordered three consecutive 30-year terms, the maximum sentence available, according to reports of the court proceedings. Gardner admitted placing a camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, between December 2017 and April 2018 to record students. Investigators said videos recovered from his computers showed close-up images of at least 10 minors naked or undressing. Authorities found the recordings years later while investigating separate allegations involving gymnasts in Iowa. Former students from Chows Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have alleged to police and in civil lawsuits that Gardner used his position to prey on them. He has not been charged in connection with those Iowa allegations in the reports. Police said they would decide how to proceed after the federal case concluded.