PRAIRIEVILLE — A former Prairieville gymnastics instructor who was arrested in Iowa and accused of molesting young girls during workouts has asked that his court proceedings be transferred to Mississippi, where investigators say he videotaped girls and young women in a bathroom.

Court papers filed with a Des Moines, Iowa, federal court allege Sean Gardner, 38, molested young athletes while purportedly training them beginning in 2018. From 2015 to 2018, the government alleges, he videotaped pubescent and pre-pubescent females at a gym in Purvis, Mississippi.

Gardner formerly was a gymnastics instructor in Ascension Parish. Federal prosecutors have not alleged he did anything illegal then, but the FBI this week asked that anyone with allegations or information to come forward.

“The FBI is seeking to identify potential victims of former gymnastics coach Sean Michael Gardner, who was recently charged with sexual exploitation of children,” the FBI said Wednesday. “Gardner worked at the Athletes in Motion gym in Prairieville, Louisiana, from 2004 to 2014.”

Athletes in Motion said in a Facebook post it was cooperating with investigators. The Ascension Parish court system said it had no record of lawsuits or charges regarding abuse at the Prairieville gym from around the time Gardner worked there.

Gardner has waived court hearings in Iowa and asked that they be transferred to the Southern District of Mississippi. The federal court has ordered him detained until the Mississippi matters are settled.

The investigation grew from a 2022 report to the U.S. Center for SafeSport that Gardner was molesting girls at Chow’s Gymnastics in West Des Moines. A girl who made that report identified six other potential victims.

Another girl reported abuse later in 2022, a government affidavit said. In May 2025, West Des Moines police searched Gardner’s home and found multiple images considered child pornography. An adult woman who had dated Gardner said the pair had coached gymnastics at “Jump In” in Purvis, near Hattiesburg.

After another search of Gardner’s home in Iowa, investigators found 50 videos and about 400 photos taken near a toilet at the Jump In gym. In one video, “multiple children appearing to be under the age of eighteen come into the bathroom, undress, and change into leotards.” Gardner is shown adjusting the camera, the government said.

An Iowa federal judge appointed a federal public defender for Gardner. She did not return telephone calls Thursday when WBRZ reached out.

The FBI issued another notice urging possible victims to step forward: "If you and/or your minor dependent(s) were victimized or you know of someone victimized by Sean Michael Gardner, you may contact the FBI" at https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/seeking-victim-information-in-sean-michael-gardner-investigation