Gymnastics Coach Charged With Sexually Abusing Young Child: Police

A man who taught gymnastics for decades has been arrested in Texas for allegedly abusing a young child.

Edouard Iarov, 69, of Dallas, was arrested by the Dallas Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal Violent Criminal Task Force, and booked into jail Friday afternoon, Dallas News reported.

Iarov, a native of Kazakhstan, was charged with one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14, a first-degree felony.

The gymnastics coach is now detained at the North Tower Jail in Dallas, with his bail set at $200,000. It was unclear whether or not he had legal representation.

No other details about his arrest have been disclosed as of this writing. It was not clear whether the accusation involved a student at Iarov’s gym.

The 69-year-old spent more than 40 years teaching gymnastics around the world. He took ownership of a Far North Dallas gym in 2012 and changed its name to Iarov Elite Gymnastics.

A look at the website of USA Gymnastics (USAG) showed that Iarov is on its list of suspended and restricted persons pending resolution. He has also been banned from having unsupervised contact with minors in any USAG facilities and events.

It remains unclear when Iarov was added to the list or how he ended up being added to it by the organization.

The Dallas Police Department's Crimes Against Children Unit is now seeking the help of the public in identifying any other possible victims associated with Iarov’s arrest.

Any victims or anyone with information about any victims can contact Detective Dwayne Cooper at 214-275-1329 or via email at dwayne.cooper@dallascityhall.com.

The investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes not long after Simone Biles once more called on USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to take accountability for their role in the Larry Nassar abuse scandal. The 24-year-old gymnast was one of more than 100 women who came forward to accuse the former doctor of sexual abuse.

"I definitely do think it had an effect," she told Time earlier this month of publicly discussing the abuse over the past few years. "It's a lot to put on one person. I feel like the guilt should be on them and should not be held over us. They should be feeling this [pain], not me."

Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing over 150 women and girls while working as a doctor at Michigan State University and for USAG, People.com reported. His victims included Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas.