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

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