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Autopsy: Indy gymnastics coach died by suicide

Posted at 10:16 AM, Dec 21, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-21 12:24:03-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- The results of an autopsy for former Indianapolis gymnastics coach Marvin Sharp show he died from asphyxia due to suffocation.

The coroner concluded he died by suicide.

Sharp was a one-time US Women's Olympic coach who was in jail after being charged with several felonies relating to sexual misconduct with children. 

He was found dead in his cell on Sept. 19.

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Marvin Sharp, 49, was charged in August with four counts of child molesting, three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and knowing possession of child pornography. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office says the crimes took place beginning in May 2013 and up until May 2015, at times with victims younger than 14.

Sharp, the owner of Sharp's Gymnastics Academy, was taken into custody on August 24.

He opened the gymnastics academy in 2001, training gymnasts from preschool to adults.

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According to the academy's website, Sharp was the 2009 US Olympic Committee Gymnastics Coach of the Year. He was a member of the 2008 women's Olympic gymnastics team.

The Marion County Prosecutor's Office says they found thousands of sexually explicit images of minors in a safe at Sharp's home and in a file cabinet at his gym. The prosecutor's office says the images depicted both minor boys and girls in sexually explicit poses.

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