Former Texas gymnastics coach sentenced for child pornography, nearly 300 images found
HOUSTON - A Texas man will be spending 20 years in prison on child pornography charges, according to authorities.
55-year-old Darren Frank McCoy, a previous gymnastics and cheerleading coach at Metroplex Gymnastics and Swim in Allen and previous coach at Top Dog Cheer in Montgomery, Alabama., pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2022, for transportation of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
McCoy recorded teens while they were undressing without their knowledge or consent and then unlawfully transported those images and videos.
On Tuesday, McCoy was ordered to serve 20 years in federal prison immediately followed by 10 years of supervised release.
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According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the court heard from two women who had McCoy as a gymnastics. McCoy recorded one of the girls while she was a minor and she says McCoy stole her childhood experiences without her knowing and she felt "rage, anger, and lack of empathy."
The second girl described to the court how McCoy sexually abused her from when she was 12-years-old until 18 and how she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
McCoy was on a cruise ship docked in Galveston on Nov. 30, 2019, and authorities sent him to secondary inspection after they learned of a prior child pornographic investigation from 2015.
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On his laptop, officials found child pornography which led them to seize his other electronic devices where they also found other pornographic images.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said authorities also found nine videos taken with a hidden camera on McCoy’s flash drive. The videos seemed to be taken about 10 years ago and showed teens changing their clothes or showering in a residential bathroom, gym, and at a hotel for a cheerleading competition. One of the teens was a minor at the time, officials say.
McCoy's residence in McKinney was searched and two covert recording devices were found. Authorities found 10 videos and 290 child pornography images on McCoy's devices in all.
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All the material included children between the ages of 1 and 8 in various stages of undress in a hospital, mortuary or morgue-type setting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
"Darren McCoy is the definition of a predator," said Hamdani. "We encourage our children to engage in sports, believing that they will be safe when doing so. Instead, these athletes were betrayed. This so-called coach surreptitiously recorded teens and sexually abused a minor for several years. Hopefully, knowing the only bars he will see now are behind a federal prison cell will give his victims some long-awaited peace."
McCoy will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.