A former West Des Moines gymnastics coach facing allegations of sexually exploiting underage girls in multiple states is in custody in Mississippi on federal charges there.
A grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi charged Sean Michael Gardner on Sept. 9 with 10 felony counts of production of child pornography. He allegedly exploited nine different victims who were minors to produce child pornography in 2017 and 2018 using hidden cameras in a bathroom at Jump In Gymnastics and Tumbling in Purvis, Mississippi, according to federal court records.
Gardner once worked at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, a program famed for training several gold-medal Olympians, including Shawn Johnson East.
The Pearl River County jail in