Former Grand Rapids gymnastics coach convicted of sexually assaulting 9 young girls

Shannon Guay takes the stand in his criminal sexual conduct case on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

More than a dozen women spent days in April recounting to a jury their stories of sexual abuse as children at the hands of former Grand Rapids-area gymnastics coach Shannon Guay. On Friday, a jury handed down a guilty verdict on 22 criminal charges related to decades of criminal sexual conduct.

Guay, 50, who worked at gymnastics, dance and martial arts facilities throughout West Michigan between the 1990s and 2010s, was arrested in Florida in May 2023 after the first victim called a gymnastics gym Guay used to work at, Aerials & Baranis, with her accusations. That gym is under new management from when the women in this case attended there. Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker has offered appreciation that the new business that took over the gym forwarded reports of sexual misconduct.

Guay faced 22 counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping.

The first woman to come forward told the court she was sexually abused by Guay at Aerials & Baranis gymnastics gym numerous times between the ages of 10 and 12. She had no knowledge of the other girls, now adults, who came forward later with their own reports of sexual abuse, Kent County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Bartlett said during her closing arguments on Thursday.

A total of 14 women, some of whom were athletes, testified during the trial in April that Guay enacted different forms of sexual violence against them from ages ranging from 6 to 16.

“He created, with the different locations that he went, this web of devastation. Every location that he went to he found victims,” Bartlett told the jury. “He had all the power and all of the control over every single one of these girls, but today you have all the power, all the control, to say that it ends here. It stops here.”

Because the women were all minors at the time of their contact with Guay, their names and images are not to appear in media coverage per the judge’s order. 

Bartlett recounted the testimony from the trial in April of the first gymnast who came forward with accusation against Guay. The gymnast said that Guay sexually penetrated her in the locker room of Aerials & Baranis multiple times during practice before the age of 13. She added that Guay put his hand inside the crotch area of her leotard on multiple occasions in a corner of the gym.

Grand Rapids Circuit Court Judge Joseph Rossi cautioned jurors that Guay is subject to the presumption of innocence. It was up to the prosecution to present a case that establishes to the jurors that beyond a reasonable doubt that Guay committed the criminal acts of which he was accused.

Guay’s defense attorney, Mark Hunting, stressed the importance of reasonable doubt, calling the testimony from the women “incredible,” pointing at inconsistencies in the timelines in the women’s stories. He also called attention to the lack of any witness corroboration to each of the womens’ stories, despite many of their testimonies recalling the incidents happening in rooms where other people were present or in a place where someone else could have seen.

Although there were many instances of sexual contact detailed by the women, Guay took the stand on Wednesday and confirmed that in one case he did have sex with one of the witnesses. But he claimed it was when she was 17 years old, over Michigan’s age of consent, which is age 16. The charge from the prosecution pertaining to that victim hinged on the assertion that the victim says she was 15 years old at the time.

The charge of criminal sexual conduct related to that woman was thrown out by the jury as they read a guilty verdict for 22 of the 23 charges.

Hunting told the jury Thursday that some of the things they heard and saw during the trial may inspire them to let sympathy influence their decision, but they need to focus on the facts of the case, which the prosecution was not able to prove. 

“There is no question that it was no picnic; no fun; nobody enjoyed the testimony, whether it was giving the testimony or frankly listening to the testimony of these victims. But if you feel sorry for them, and you vote guilty because you feel sorry for them, that is improper,” Hunting said. “In reality, this case is exclusively a ‘she said-he said case’ and in order to find my client guilty, you’re going to have to determine who do you believe.” 

But it wasn’t a “she said-he said” case, Bartlett said. It was 14 “she saids” and one “he said.”

Shannon Guay takes the stand in his criminal sexual conduct case on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Defense Attorney Mark Hunting gives his closing arguments in the criminal sexual conduct case of Shannon Guay on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Kent County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Bartlett gives her closing arguments in the criminal sexual conduct case of Shannon Guay on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Grand Rapids Circuit Court Judge Joseph Rossi speaks to jurors in the criminal sexual conduct case of Shannon Guay on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Tissues left by the women who gave emotional testimony in the criminal sexual conduct case of Shannon Guay on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Attorney Mark Hunting (left) and his client Shannon Guay (right) stand in court during Guay's criminal sexual conduct case on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Shannon Guay takes the stand in his criminal sexual conduct case on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Numerous photos and videos zoomed on young girls’ vaginal and buttocks areas that the prosecution asserts were taken by, or at least in possession of, Guay were shown during the trial. 

Bartlett recounted Kent County Detective Paul VanRhee discussing that thousands of child sexually abusive materials have been found on devices during the investigation into Guay with the ages of the children ranging from diaper-age to early teens.

Guay was not facing any criminal charges from images that the prosecution would like to assert were explicitly in his possession, Hunting reminded jurors. He said the only reason the prosecution is mentioning images is to “throw a big piece of mud into the case” since the prosecution has no evidence of any criminal sexual activity because none occurred.

Bartlett said Thursday that Guay is facing a separate federal investigation in Florida into the materials in his possession.

The criminal investigation into Guay is not the first time authorities have looked into sexual violence at Aerials & Baranis. In 1994 the former owner, Paul Hagan, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct. WOOD-TV reported in 2011 that he sold the gym to his wife and was found to be still coaching young gymnasts there.

And Hagan was the person who hired Guay, Bartlett said during closing arguments, calling them “birds of a feather.”

Becker, the Kent County prosecutor, said in a statement that in spite of only nine out of the 10 women seeing guilty verdicts against Guay, he is “tremendously pleased with the verdict.” 

“Elizabeth Bartlett and Det. Anna Birkland put a ton of work into this case and I am so happy for them that the jury listened to the evidence and held this man accountable for his truly horrible activities that impacted so many women,” Becker said.

Guay is scheduled for sentencing on June 4 and faces possible life imprisonment.

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