Jared Fogle, also known as The Subway Guy, is now serving a 15-year prison sentence for child sex crimes. In November 2019, he accepted a plea deal, admitting to multiple charges of receiving child pornography and repeatedly having sex with minors.
According to NPR, the case also involved interstate travel to pay minors for sex. Moreover, authorities found at least hundreds of child pornography videos in his possession. They even believed he received the videos from the head of his charity, the Jared Fogle Foundation.
Jared Fogle’s crimes: What did the Subway Guy do?
Jared Fogle, who was once the face of Subway for shedding 245 pounds by eating the chain’s sandwiches, pleaded guilty to child sex crimes in 2015. Aside from possession or distribution of child pornography, the charges also included the accused traveling across state lines to have commercial sex with a minor. Besides Fogle, the head of his charity The Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor, also faced charges. The latter pleaded guilty to 12 counts of producing child pornography and one count of distributing it. He later pleaded guilty to additional counts.
According to USA Today, federal authorities arrested and charged both Fogle and Taylor that year in a child pornography investigation. They launched the probe in 2014 after a woman notified authorities that Taylor had offered her child pornography images. Following this, state and federal agents searched the former Subway pitchman’s Indiana home in July 2015 when they found incriminating evidence.
The New York Post reported that Jared Fogle earned fame in 1999 because of his weight loss journey. He claimed his lunch was Subway’s 6-inch turkey sandwich, a bag of baked potato chips, and a Diet Coke. For dinner, he had a foot-long veggie sub and a Diet Coke. He then went on to make a fortune of an estimated $15 million by appearing in the chain’s advertising campaigns.
Prosecutors reportedly alleged that Fogle solicited escorts to “provide him with access to minors as young as 14 to 15 years.” They claimed he had at least 400 child-porn videos in his possession. Along with serving about 85% of his sentence, the pedophile was also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 victims. The convict is currently serving his sentence in a prison in Colorado.
