Mass. gymnastics coach denies voyeurism charge in state court

August 12, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

A Massachusetts gymnastics coach pleaded not guilty in Vermont state court this week to a charge alleging that he recorded images of children in a bathroom at a Waterbury gymnastics center in July. 

Jonathan Girard, 39, of North Adams, Massachusetts, left court with conditions that he not have contact with minors except for family members with a parent present, according to court records. He also is specifically ordered not to contact anyone from Central Vermont Gymnastics Academy in Waterbury where investigators say the incident took place. 

According to investigators, Girard spent time at the gym during the week of July 10-14, working with the center’s competitive team which is a group of 30 youngsters ranging in age from about 5 to 16. The gym was closed on Tuesday of that week due to flooding in Waterbury, court documents note. 

Located on Demeritt Place in Waterbury, Central Vermont Gymnastics Academy runs youth gymnastics classes, afterschool programs and summer camps, and trains gymnasts for competitions. The gym also serves as the home base for the Harwood gymnastics program with owner Anissa Davis the head coach for the school program.

An affidavit filed with the court on Aug. 2 by state police Detective Mathew Nadeau describes the series of events that led to the voyeurism charge. 

The investigation began when Davis contacted Vermont State Police on Saturday, July 15. Davis and her son, Tristan Touchette, who works at the gym, told police that Girard called them to tell them that there were video images of children using and changing in the bathroom at the Waterbury gym on the laptop computer that he had with him there earlier that week. 

“Girard reportedly believed someone had installed the SD card in his computer while he was at CVGA,” Nadeau wrote in his account. 

The investigation found that it was Girard’s fiancee, Victoria Bonin, who initially discovered the images on the computer when she went to use the laptop on July 15. In a call to Davis, Bonin estimated that she saw about 20 video files but only viewed three of them and she recognized a Central Vermont Gymnastics logo on a leotard in one clip, according to court documents. 

Nadeau’s affidavit describes from interviews that Bonin confronted Girard about the images. Later in a call to Davis, “Girard advised he had deleted the videos and threw the SD card out. Davis asked Girard why he would do that and told him to go retrieve the SD card out of the trash,” the police account states.   

Girard retrieved the computer, brought it home, after which a North Adams police officer at the request of Vermont State Police visited the home to confiscate it along with the SD memory card, the affidavit explains. 

During the exchanges with Davis and investigators, Bonin assisted by looking at photos of the gym’s bathrooms for comparison with the images she viewed on the computer, police said. That helped identify where a recording device may have been located, but a search at the gym found no cameras, police said.  

The laptop and SD card were transferred to Vermont investigators who turned to the Office of Homeland Security Investigations in South Burlington for examination, according to the affidavit. 

No videos were found on the device, police said, but four cached images “that appeared to be thumbnails from videos taken inside the bathroom at CVGS. Two of the images showed females wearing leotards,” the police account describes. 

Investigators were able to match the computer images with one of the gym’s bathrooms that gymnasts use for changing, police said. Court records state that Davis was able to identify only one of the juveniles changing in the images. 

Nadeau’s affidavit notes that Davis confirmed that Girard, who runs his own gym in Massachusetts, has visited the Waterbury gym multiple times in recent years at all three of the spaces where it has been located. 

The detective also notes in his narrative that the federal agent’s computer examination turned up an Amazon.com order for a “spy camera” dated July 15, 2023 and a record of an email dated Aug. 30, 2012 that references “spy gear and surveillance.” 

The affidavit says that Bonin told investigators that Girard has cameras in public areas of his gym “for his protection.” One reason for that, Bonin told investigators, “was to gather evidence against an employee whom he ultimately fired for defaming him to parents at the gym.”  

Girard is the owner of the J Star Gymnastics gym in North Adams, Massachusetts, which the local newspaper, the Berkshire Eagle, reported opened in 2010. Calls to J Star were not answered this week. The gym’s website has only an announcement for 2019 posted and its Facebook page is no longer publicly available to view. 

The website for USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport lists Girard as “suspended from all contact” on a list of suspended and restricted persons with cases that are pending resolution. Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Headquartered in Denver, the U.S. Center for Safe Sport is an independent nonprofit entity directed by Congress to prevent and respond to all forms of abuse and misconduct within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement. The entry for Girard on the list does not specify a date when it was added.

The voyeurism charge is a misdemeanor under Vermont state law. If convicted, Girard could face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000. 

Girard’s arraignment in Vermont Superior Court in Barre on Thursday, Aug.10, came less than a month from when the alleged incident took place. “Our office moved very quickly from the allegations to bringing charges in this case. It is important to take action in these cases,” Washington County State’s Attorney Michelle Donnelly told WCAX-TV.