Subway Rep Jared Fogle Pleads Guilty to Numerous Federal Charges of Owning and Distributing Child Pornography
The 37-year-old weight loss champion who made his fortune promoting Subway Sandwiches has pleaded guilty in a federal court in Indiana to charges that he kept and distributed child pornography, as well as charges that he raped underage victims.
Fogle agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to his victims, who will each receive $100,000. He will also spend at least 5 years in federal prison for the child pornography charges, and is expected to plead guilty at a later date to numerous charges of having sex with minor children.
Reportedly, some of Fogle’s child pornography victims are as young as 6 years old. He found his victims through the former executive director of The Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor, who was under investigation for child pornography by the FBI beginning on July 7th. That’s when the FBI traced much of Taylor’s pornography to Fogle.
The Jared Foundation started to promote healthy eating, exercise, and other lifestyle changes to obese children.
“Today, Jared Fogle has been charged and has admitted to participating in a five-year criminal scheme to exploit children,” U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler said in a press conference on Wednesday, August 19th. “This is about using wealth, status, and secrecy to illegally exploit children.”
Beginning in 2011, Fogle allegedly discovered that Taylor was victimizing a 14-year-old girl. Fogle did not report the crime, and instead received and repeatedly viewed child pornography involving the girl. Taylor began distributing more child pornography to Fogle, and the two allegedly used The Jared Foundation to find victims, including victims that Fogle met for sexual acts. He is accused of scheduling travel to promote Subway and his foundation with sexual encounters with minors. This could include some children in South Carolina.
“We’re holding him responsible for all of that victimization,” said Steven Debrota, the lead prosecutor in the case and head of the Safe Childhood Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office. “He didn’t do the right thing. What he chose to do was profit from that exploitation and get the result for his own benefit and his own use.”
The Fogle family also released a statement, saying they were “shocked and profoundly disappointed in Jared’s abhorrent criminal behavior,” and also “very concerned for the well-being of those affected by his conduct.
“At the same time, we are gratified that Jared is accepting responsibility for what he has done by agreeing to plea guilty to the charges filed today and by volunteering to make restitution to the victims,” the statement continued. “We are also gratified that he is seeking medical treatment.”
Subway announced that they have permanently ended their relationship with Fogle as a spokesman for the company on Tuesday, August 18th. “We no longer have a relationship with Jared and have no further comment,” the company said on Twitter (tweets below).
Jared Fogle’s actions are inexcusable and do not represent our brand’s values. We had already ended our relationship with Jared.
— Subway® (@SUBWAY) August 19, 2015
We no longer have a relationship with Jared and have no further comment.
— Subway® (@SUBWAY) August 18, 2015
