Former Subway restaurant pitchman Jared Fogle appeared in court Wednesday on charges of having had sex with minors and distributing and receiving child pornography, according to a plea agreement released by the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Indiana.
In a court appearance Wednesday in Indianapolis, that lasted less than 15 minutes, Fogle, who is expected to plead guilty, was advised of his rights and placed on home detention. He will be monitored by GPS.
Fogle sat with his head down and hands clasped. He nodded affirmatively and spoke softly in response to questions from the judge asking whether he understood the charges and the proceedings.
No date was set for a hearing on the guilty plea.
Prosecutors have agreed to seek a sentence no greater than 12½ years. Fogle agreed not to seek a sentence of less than five years. In federal cases, prisoners must serve at least 85% of sentences.
The U.S. attorney’s office has scheduled a news conference for 12:30 p.m. to discuss the case.
In documents released Wednesday, the plea agreement says Fogle traveled to New York for sex with at least two minors between about 2010 and 2013 at the Plaza Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The victims were 16 and 17 years old. Fogle repeatedly asked one of the minor victims and “several others” to “provide him with access to minors as young as 14 years” for sex. He told one of the victims, “The younger the girl, the better.” Fogle said he would “really make it worth her while if she could find one.”
He also offered “numerous prostitutes” — apparently adults — with whom he had sex a finder’s fee for access to minors he could pay for sex.
Fogle repeatedly made travel plans to have business trips “coincide with his pursuit of commercial sex acts.”
The plea agreement says that on “multiple occasions” between about 2011 and 2015 Fogle received child pornography from Russell C. Taylor, the former executive director of his charity, The Jared Foundation. The unidentified victims in the photos and videos were as young as “approximately six years of age.”
Twelve identified victims were in photos and videos taken secretly at Taylor’s home. All live in the Southern District of Indiana, which is central Indiana and south. In some cases, Fogle knew the victims’ names and where they lived.
Fogle agreed to pay the 14 victims $100,000 each as part of the plea agreement.
A spokesman for Fogle’s attorney, Jeremy Margolis, said Margolis will make a brief statement around 11:30 a.m. Fogle will be present, but will not speak, the spokesman said.
Source: USA Today | Tim Evans and Mark Alesia, The Indianapolis Star
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