NOTE: The following article contains disturbing content. Please read at your own discretion.
More than seven years after former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle was arrested on child pornography charges, the world is getting an inside look at the FBI investigation that led to his very public ruin.
The now-infamous pop culture figure became the face of the giant sandwich chain after he claimed to lose 245 pounds by eating only low-fat food from Subway. At the peak of his celebrity in 2015, police raided Fogle’s home in Zionsville, Ind., and discovered a laptop and thumb drive containing sexual imagery of children.
Later, Fogle, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of travelling to engage in sex with a minor. He also paid US$1.4 million to 14 different victims, some who were as young as 13 or 14 when they were targeted by Fogle.
Now, Fogle is the subject of a three-hour docuseries by Investigation Discovery titled Jared From Subway: Catching A Monster. The series premiered on Monday and is currently available to stream on Discovery+.
Though Fogle — who is a father of two — is not a participant in the docuseries, several of the arresting officers and his former classmates are interviewed. Rochelle Herman, the radio show host-turned-whistleblower who was instrumental in the arrest and capture of Fogle, is also interviewed.
Herman met Fogle when he was a guest on her local Florida radio show. She befriended Fogle after he made several inappropriate comments about minors. In Jared From Subway, Herman said she hoped to obtain enough evidence to be able to bring justice. She recorded several phone calls between she and Fogle and eventually became an FBI informant.
“I had evidence of Jared saying what he wanted to do. He was an active pedophile,” Herman said in the series’ trailer.
In the docuseries, Herman said she made Fogle believe she was “someone he could confide in,” though she was in reality providing information to the FBI.
“When Jared boasted about having sex with minors, it was beyond disturbing,” Herman said in the docuseries. “‘Monster’ is too kind of a word.”
Several of Herman’s most damning phone call recordings are included in the series. In one such call, Fogle bragged to Herman about paying to have sex with minors in Thailand.
“We can get whatever age we want,” Fogle said in the phone conversation featured in the docuseries.
Fogle continued to tell Herman that he had access to minors of “different ages” in Thailand.
Herman recorded phone conversations with Fogle for three years until he was finally arrested. His arrest came alongside a discovery that the executive director of Fogle’s nonprofit foundation, Russell Taylor, sent child pornography to the Subway pitchman.
In 2015, Taylor pleaded guilty to 30 child pornography and sexual exploitation charges for his acts against nine children. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Subway ended their 16-year partnership with Fogle in 2015 after the FBI raided his home.
Fogle is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence in a Colorado prison. The earliest he can be freed is March 24, 2029, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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