The former Subway spokesman and IU alumnus was sentenced to 15 years and eight months imprisonment and lifetime supervision on two federal counts.
He was also fined $175,000 in addition to the $1.4 million already paid as restitution to the 14 victims in his case. If any other victims are identified Fogle must pay the same $100,000 restitution to them as well.
On Aug 19., Fogle pleaded guilty to charges of possessing child pornography and traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor. Though the federal maximum for two federal felonies is 50 years, the prosecutors settled on a plea deal of 12 1/2 years. Fogle’s attorney’s bargained for five years.
Ultimately the decision was Judge Tanya Walton Pratt’s.
“The level of perversion and lawlessness exhibited by Mr. Fogle is extreme,” Pratt said.
Fogle’s illegal activity took place throughout the course of eight years, beginning in 2007 until June 2015.
In July, the FBI raided Fogle’s home. This was after investigators found 400 videos of child pornography in the former executive director of the Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor’s home.
Taylor had secretly recorded up to 12 minors undressing and showering by using hidden cameras in clock radios, according to court documents. Taylor then shared and discussed these images with Fogle. In some instances, Fogle knew the minors names and met them at social functions in Indiana.
“Although I realize that I can never change my deplorable past choices, I so regret that I let so many of you down,” Fogle said. “I take full and absolute responsibility for what I’ve done and, more importantly, the harm I’ve caused the victims and their families.”
Pratt interrupted Fogle’s tearful apology to his family, when he stated his remorse for subjecting his wife to being a single mother.
“You gave your wife almost $7 million, though,” Pratt said. “I think she’ll be OK.”
Fogle also apologized to those who looked up to him as a role model for healthy living through his Subway sponsorship and his personal foundation.
Forensic psychiatrist John Bradford was called as a witness after he diagnosed Fogle with hypersexuality and “mild” pedophilia. Bradford linked Fogle’s notorious weight loss to his sexual deviance. Fogle’s defense attorney Jeremy Margolis used this as part of his argument for a minimum sentence.
“The reality is that Jared Fogle traded a horrible food addiction for a horrible sex addiction,” Margolis said.
However, neither prosecutor Steven DeBrota nor Judge Pratt considered this diagnosis legitimate.
“In this country there’s no such thing as being a mild pedophile,” Pratt said.
Fogle was also prosecuted for engaging in commercial sex with minors. Fogle solicited two underage escorts in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City in November 2012. Fogle was aware that both girls were underage, according to court documents.
During the hearing, DeBrota called Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and FBI Detective Darin Odier as a witness. The two read aloud text exchanges between Fogle and the underage prostitutes.
On numerous occasions Fogle would solicit prostitutes and request they find him a friend, “the younger the girl, the better” and that if they did so he would “really make it worth her while.”
Fogle also repeatedly sent text messages to several escorts asking them to find girls as young as 14 to 15 years old, according to court records.
DeBrota told the court that Fogle spent $12,000 a year on prostitutes, often paying for hotel rooms and offering free flights.
This, in addition to the age of the victims, the number of victims, the extensive use of computers and other storage devices and the pattern of exploitation were all factored into Fogle’s sentencing.
“It is my intent to learn from these experiences so that I never, ever do these things again,” Fogle said.
Fogle was immediately taken into custody after the hearing.
Read previous coverage of Jared Fogle here.
Correction: This story previously said the hearing lasted 5 1/2 hours. The IDS regrets this error.
