Rockville Cheer Coach Arrested

by Kat Mahoney ’20

Cristian Gill, a 21 year old Rockville cheerleading coach, was arrested April 25 after allegedly placing a camera in the unisex bathroom at the Shockwave Allstars gym. The camera was discovered by an athlete on February 9, the weekend of a major cheer competition out of town.

Three days later, once the owner had returned from out of town, the two met in the parking lot of the gym and turned over the camera. He claimed that he had placed it in the bathroom but he never recorded anything. The owner called the police and he was asked to leave. Gill had been working at the gym for two years and passed all of the background checks.

Cristian Gill, former Rockville cheer coach, was arrested on April 25th.

Police found 49 photographs of female and male adults and children which had been taken in the bathrooms at that gym. Gill admitted that he placed the device in the cheer bathroom around 20 times in a two-month period. He also admitted to taking upskirt photos of multiple women in other public and placing a camera in his apartment to watch his roommate’s girlfriend.

Several victims have been identified and alerted, but there are still a few people who have yet to be identified. Forensics officials also discovered that multiple pictures and videos had been deleted from the camera.

Multiple MCPS school cheer teams, including Sherwood, have used this facility as a place to practice and train for their competitive seasons. It is also the gym of many different MCPS students ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Gill has personally worked with all of these athletes and was trusted by parents and children all over. He was the coach of all different teams and was believed seen as a goofy and helpful coach who would always listen.

Gill attended that weekend’s competition and continued to coach as if everything was normal up until the day he admitted to his crimes in the parking lot on February 12.

Police found an unsent letter in Gill’s phone that said “You cannot imagine how much I am sorry to you for making you feel so uncomfortable. But understand that I never looked at anything that was recorded. I don’t even know if it worked … I’m not a pig or pervert or anything like that. I’m just a guy that should’ve gone to college instead of making money and decisions.”