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Young gymnasts and their parents began raising the alarm about coaches as early as 2017 – the same year a regulatory body was set up in the wake of the “Gymnastics Incident”. Larry Nassar Sex abuse scandal nearly devastated USA Gymnastics and harming the entire Olympic movement in the country.
But it would be another five years before Sean Gardner faced sanctions from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent agency created by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. congress Investigating misconduct in the Olympic movement.
It wasn’t until an Associated Press investigation this year that details emerged about the coach, whose arrest in August on child pornography charges was a turning point in a case known as “Nassar 2.0.”
Now, a new AP investigation has found that just months before Gardner was arrested for allegedly installing a camera in a Purvis women’s gym bathroom, mississippiAs part of the deal, he was willing to accept a lifetime ban from coaching gymnastics and admit the abuse, according to three people involved in SafeSport and its handling of the case.
Tangled internal politics, fearing retaliation against SafeSport employees, prevented the company from imposing the toughest sanctions, these people told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from SafeSport.
With multiple victims, new witnesses coming forward and Gardner’s history at three gyms in different states, the case became one of the most disturbing in the agency’s eight-year investigation.
“It’s like, ‘Okay, this is ‘Naxal 2.0,’ so let’s figure out what we can figure out and get it over with,” one person said.
The person said no clear reason was ever given as to why the center did not finalize a permanent ban.
Meanwhile, Gardner has pleaded not guilty to federal child pornography charges and remains in jail awaiting trial on March 2.
Critics say SafeSport’s inability to impose permanent bans is a fundamental failure that undermines one of its key missions – ensuring permanent sanctions are imposed on the most dangerous abusers.
Asked why the safety movement had not followed up, center spokesperson Hilary Nemczyk said in a statement that she could not comment on those details.
However, she said SafeSport “acted quickly to protect the athlete from harm after receiving the first allegation of sexual misconduct. The restrictions during the temporary and permanent suspensions are the same.”
Regarding SafeSport’s overall handling of the case, the statement said, “Even if the defendant agrees to significant sanctions, center staff are still required to ensure that the defendant is dealt with fairly.”
While not mentioning the Gardner case specifically, Nemczyk added that the center is careful to avoid “closing cases based on inaccuracies or making findings that do not adequately heed the respondents, which could jeopardize the case and require the matter to be reopened.”
Gardner, who was temporarily suspended in July 2022, has been listed on SafeSport’s disciplinary database, a searchable list of banned players from the centre, which is updated but does not announce new or noteworthy sanctions. The database requires users to know the name of the person they want to check.
Gardner has indicated he is ready to sign a permanent injunction in early 2025, which would change his status in the database and end the investigation, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
This will limit his ability to do more damage in many ways, expert People familiar with the safety movement told The Associated Press. These include:
— Eliminate the possibility of a case going to arbitration and the need to re-interview and potentially re-injure the athlete.
— Eliminate the risk of Gardner’s ban being lifted if he is acquitted in a criminal case.
Just as important, it would send a clear message to parents, people in the sports community and possible employers, said Michelle Simpson Tuegel, an attorney for the gymnasts in the Nassar case.
“It communicates the final decision,” she said. “That means something. It’s not something that’s being adjudicated, maybe this person was wrongly accused.”
Gardner’s admission in early 2025 of possible illegal activity at SafeSports could also provide law enforcement with more information in a case that did not lead to his arrest until August, said attorney Steve Silvey, a longtime critic of the center.
“Did he abuse anyone during the months that SafeSport had this information?” Silvey said. “This has to do with FBI Did you know that before arresting him? “
Despite being suspended from coaching gymnastics for two years, Gardner took a job as a surgical technologist at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center in May 2024, where he placed patients on the operating table and assisted with surgical and post-operative care. A hospital spokesman did not respond to voicemails and emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Gardner’s attorney, Omodare Jupiter, also did not respond to email and phone messages from The Associated Press asking questions about SafeSport’s handling of his client’s case.
People familiar with Gardner’s case told The Associated Press that the case became tangled up in a web of internal security sports politics that led to human resources department complaints alleging retaliation and other concerns and ultimately led to the failure to impose a lifetime ban.
They described a dysfunctional culture in which employees were afraid to speak out to bosses about their problems, including frustration at the center’s failure to close the Gardner case.
They said the Safety Movement conducted a survey of employees earlier this year and the results were troubling. “The center’s investigative and legal departments have serious concerns about retaliation, favoritism and disqualified promotions,” according to a slide presented to employees shared by The Associated Press.
“If I had said something, I might have been punished without being told why,” one employee was quoted as saying.
Nemchik did not answer a question from The Associated Press about what SafeSport did about the investigation, which was conducted shortly after CEO Ju’Riese Colon stepped down in April, but he acknowledged “short-term cultural challenges” that arose after Colon’s departure.
Nemczyk said in a statement that the center hopes the new CEO will focus on “organizational excellence as the center continues to evolve under new leadership to best fulfill our mission.”
Since his arrest, Gardner’s sanction on the SafeSport disciplinary database has been upgraded from “temporary suspension” to “ineligible” for “criminal disposition involving a minor” and “sexual misconduct.”
If convicted, Gardner will be permanently disqualified from coaching gymnastics. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that this was the status Gardner agreed to in early 2025, according to records in the April case file.
“What do people know? Larry Nassar How did it happen, how did it happen, and did you let it happen again? John Manley, an attorney for the gymnasts in the Nassar and Gardner cases, said when asked to compare the two. “One of the center’s jobs is to protect child athletes from predators. But they are failing. “
At the same time, the safety movement USA Gymnastics With the coach Iowa The gym where Gardner worked is named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by two gymnasts who say they did not do enough to protect them.
The lawsuit states that in December 2017, USA Gymnastics The parents of a girl informed SafeSport of inappropriate behavior by Gardner while coaching at Purvis Jump’In Gymnastics. mississippi.
Allegations in the lawsuit include:
— “Gardner requires underage gymnasts to hug him after every practice, including a long, frontal, two-arm hug.”
— “Gardner disciplined and intimidated a minor gymnast without parental consent, taking her to his office for a 25-minute closed-door meeting, verbally abusing her and then hugging and kissing her without consent.”
SafeSport and USA Gymnastics both declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The criminal complaint that led to Gardner’s arrest said FBI Files of video recorded by Gardner using a hidden camera in the girls’ toilet, where the young gymnast took off her clothes to go to the toilet, were found on his computer. mississippi Gym. The videos date from at least December 2017 to mid-2018.
The SafeSport Center said it was notified by USA Gymnastics in January 2018 that one of its affiliated gyms had resolved a report involving Gardner. But the center said it was not investigating further because the report was not related to sexual misconduct and no details had been received.
Gardner, meanwhile, got a job in 2018 at Chow Gymnastics and Dance Academy in West Des Moines, Iowa, a gym owned by famed coach Joe “Chow” Liang who has produced Olympians including gold medalist Shawn Johnson.
It wasn’t until 2022 that the Iowa gym fired Gardner and the center temporarily suspended him when SafeSports received new abuse allegations. The gym and Joe named in the lawsuit did not respond to phone and email messages left by The Associated Press.
It took another three years of The Associated Press investigation to reveal the depth of the allegations against Gardner and the shortcomings of the regulatory agencies set up to protect athletes in the wake of the Nassar case.
Simpson-Tugall said the comparisons to the Nassar case were not surprising.
“You look at the timeline and see how many people knew and failed to protect children and allowed this person to continue to have access,” she said.
“You do see a point in some cases where it absolutely could have been stopped, but it wasn’t.”