Fogle: Sexual exploitation
U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler told media the case was about the exploitation of children and that Fogle is pleading guilty to paying for sex acts with minors and to receiving child pornography. Fogle has also agreed to pay $100,000 to each of 14 minor victims. He will register as a sex offender and must receive counselling.
“This is about using wealth, status and secrecy to illegally exploit children,” Minkler said. In July, Subway suspended its relationship with Fogle, who has been a spokesman for them for 15 years, after his home in Zionsville, an affluent area of Indianapolis, was raided by police, There are no longer references to him or videos in which he is seen on their website.
Subway has now completely ended their relationship with him.
Fogle, 37, heads a charitable foundation, the ‘Jared Foundation,’ that raises awareness of childhood obesity and works with obese children. The prosecutors said Fogle was aware that the director of his foundation, Russell Taylor, 43, produced child pornography and that Taylor sent child pornography to Fogle.
He was in a courtroom in Indianapolis today to face the charges and is expected to return to court at a later date to plead guilty to them.
Sex acts with minors
Taylor’s home was raided by the FBI in the Spring, two months before Fogle’s home was raided, and Taylor was taken into custody at that time. Jail officials said Taylor had a suicide attempt while in jail. He remains in custody and is expected to be indicted within the next two weeks.
Documents show some children were illicitly filmed by Taylor changing or in the bathroom or while bathing, with the children unaware Taylor was filming them. Some were children Fogle had met. Taylor also sent images obtained from outside the U.S. to Fogle, some images of kids as young as six.
According to documents, Fogle has had sex with minors while upon business trips since 2007 and he planned trips around his sexual trysts with minors. He paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl in his hotel in New York, whom he met online, on at least two occasions, documents show.
He and the 17-year-old girl subsequently had text exchanges in which he offered to pay her in exchange for her finding even younger girls for him. He also solicited escorts, prosecutors said, urging them “to provide him with access to minors as young as 14 to 15 years.”
Fogle is married with two children and his wife Katie said today she is filing for divorce. “Obviously, I am extremely shocked and disappointed by the recent developments involving Jared,” she said in a statement. “I am in the process of seeking a dissolution of the marriage. My focus is exclusively on the well-being of my children.”
Fogle kept his head down while in court today; he has agreed to a sentence of at least five years in jail and prosecutors have agreed to seek no more than 12-and-a-half years. His attorney said Fogle will be getting therapy from a “world-class psychiatrist.”
His family released a statement saying they are concerned for the victims of his actions and are “shocked and profoundly disappointed” with him. They said they are grateful he accepted responsibility for what he has done.
