Former gymnastics coach Sean Gardner has been sentenced to 90 years in prison in the United States after pleading guilty to three federal offences involving the production of child sexual abuse material. Judge Kristi Johnson imposed three consecutive thirty-year sentences for secretly recording minors at a gym in Purvis, Mississippi. The sentence establishes his criminal responsibility, while lawsuits remain pending that question the response of USA Gymnastics, the national governing body, and the organisations responsible for protecting athletes.
The case raises a question separate from the conviction: what duties arise when an institution receives a warning but a coach continues working with minors? Answering it requires establishing what information each organisation received, when it became aware of it and what action it could take. Safeguarding duties do not require waiting for a criminal conviction: they include reporting suspicions, assessing risks and applying the measures provided for in the rules. Whether those duties were breached in this case must be determined through proceedings separate from those that resulted in Gardner’s conviction.
The warnings and the 2022 suspension
According to lawsuits described by ‘Associated Press’, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the independent safeguarding body for the US Olympic and Paralympic Movement, received reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gardner in December 2017. The plaintiffs allege that the response was inadequate and allowed him to continue coaching. In 2018, he joined Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, where former students also reported abuse. Those allegations form part of the civil claims and must be distinguished from the offences for which he has been convicted.
SafeSport provisionally suspended him in 2022, and the gym dismissed him at that time. The Center says its investigation found that club officials and coaches knew of allegations they had not reported to it as required by its rules. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, confirms that SafeSport referred allegations to law enforcement, leading to the police investigation. That referral is documented, but does not, on its own, establish the full timeline or resolve the disagreements over earlier warnings.
Reporting does not end safeguarding responsibilities
The system divides responsibilities among clubs, governing bodies, SafeSport and law enforcement. USA Gymnastics’ current rules require adults under its jurisdiction to report suspected child abuse immediately to both the relevant authorities and SafeSport. The Center has exclusive jurisdiction within the Olympic and Paralympic Movement to investigate and resolve sexual misconduct allegations. Reporting to a sports organisation does not replace reporting to the authorities, and disciplinary proceedings do not replace a criminal investigation. Assessing the response from 2017 onwards requires examining the duties in force at each stage.
Referring a concern also does not remove every responsibility from a club or governing body. SafeSport’s procedures provide for temporary measures where a potential risk is identified and recognise that sports organisations can adopt their own safety plans and make employment or membership decisions. The institutional question therefore begins when information is received that triggers duties to act: who was required to report it, assess the risk and protect athletes while an investigation took place? That does not make every allegation proof of guilt or require an identical response in every case; it requires proportionate action consistent with due process.
Immunity and unresolved responsibilities
In May, a court dismissed SafeSport from two lawsuits, finding that it was entitled to immunity for its regulatory functions, which include receiving complaints, investigating and making disciplinary decisions. The ruling extends that legal protection to both actions and omissions within those functions. It is not a judicial finding that the case was handled appropriately: it determines that the claims brought against the Center cannot proceed through those lawsuits. Nor does it resolve the claims against the other defendants.
The pending lawsuits against Gardner, USA Gymnastics and the gym leave the questions surrounding the warnings and institutional response unresolved. Records of reports received, communications between organisations, measures taken and the duties applying to each party will be relevant to determining them. The conviction establishes the coach’s offences; any liability on the part of those overseeing safeguarding requires separate findings about what they were obliged to do, whether they breached that duty and what consequences followed. The existence of warnings warrants that examination, but does not establish the liability of every organisation involved.
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