Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle leaves federal court in 2015 after a hearing on child pornography charges.AP
Jared Fogle became the host of Subway after losing 245 pounds by eating mostly the chain’s spare parts.
He filmed more than 300 commercials for Subway before pleading guilty to child sexual acts in 2015.
A documentary aired March 6 reveals how Fogle duped the public for years before he was caught.
(Editor’s note. This story contains spoilers from the 3-part series “Jared of the Subway: Catching a Monster,” which airs March 6 on the true crime channel ID.)
Jared Fogle became a pop culture icon after being chosen as the face of Subway in 2000.
The Indiana native was thrust into the spotlight after losing 245 pounds on a staple diet of Subway sandwiches. He shot about 300 commercials for the chain between 2000 and 2015 and spent hundreds of hours interacting with children through The Jared Foundation, an organization created to reduce childhood obesity.
But Fogle’s popularity took a nosedive in 2015 after he was caught paying minors for sex and trafficking child pornography. The former “Subway diet” spokesman is now the subject of an in-depth documentary on True Crime Channel’s ID that shows how federal authorities pursued Fogle for years but never arrested him.
A random tip in 2015 finally exposed him as a child sexual predator.
Four months after investigators raided his home, Fogle was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to paying minors for sex and distributing child pornography.
Insider is screening the three-part series, which includes interviews with victims, law enforcement officials and a whistleblower. They helped investigators uncover Fogle’s sex crimes, many of which were committed while he was on the road selling Subway sandwiches.
Fogle declined an interview for the series. Subway, which is for sale, was not interviewed for the documentary.
Last month, the chain said it had cut ties with Fogle after learning of his behavior nearly eight years ago.
“We have made numerous attempts to show the producers that these documents do not reflect who we are as a company,” the chain said.
Here are the highlights:
Jared Fogle led a ‘double life’, according to a documentary about his child sex crimes. ID
He led a double life – subway agent by day, child predator by night
In each episode, the documentary highlights Fogle’s rapid rise to fame.
Images and videos show him posing with celebrities such as comedian Will Ferrell, doing commercials with Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, and running the New York City Marathon wearing Subway gear. The documentary also revisits him as interviewed by countless television hosts, including former CNN talk show host Larry King.
But while he represented Subway during the day, he was doing something completely different at night, according to eyewitnesses and investigators interviewed in the documentary.
One of his accomplices was Russell Taylor, who was sentenced in 2022 to 27 years in prison for pleading guilty to 24 counts of producing child sexual abuse material.
Taylor runs Fogle’s charity, The Jared Foundation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven De Brotta described Taylor as “a personal train wreck waiting to happen” in the upcoming documentary.
Fogle and Taylor walked together to talk about reducing childhood obesity through healthy eating.
But they “fed each other with addictions” at night, De Brotta said. “They have become a toxic combination.”
Fogle led a “double life,” he said.
“He would travel across the United States for Subway,” De Brota said. “But when he’s not in public, when he’s alone in a hotel room, Jared Fogle spends $12,000 a year on prostitutes. He then asked if they had access to underage prostitutes.”
Rochelle Herman was an FBI informant. She secretly recorded conversations with Jared Fogle, but the FBI never acted on the tapes, she said. Discovery Plus
The FBI had known about Fogle for years but made no arrests
“I wanted to warn people so people could protect their children,” FBI informant Rochelle Herman said in the documentary.
Herman, a radio journalist from Florida who first met Fogle in 2006, is a central figure in the upcoming film. She spent several years recording phone conversations with Fogle as an FBI asset.
She recounted moments when she threw up after talking to Fogle.
“Eventually, Jared started sharing with me in great detail what he would do with the kids,” Herman said. “When Jared bragged about having sex with minors, it was beyond disturbing.”
One conversation stood out — the trip Fogle said he took to Thailand.
After hearing the details, she said, “My soul was blackened.”
He described how easy it is to have sex with children in Thailand and discussed a “hot” experience with a young boy, according to recorded audio revealed in the series.
Fogle’s recorded voice is heard throughout the documentary. At one point, he tells Herman, “We should try to get some child porn videos to watch together.”
Although Herman initially provided the FBI with dozens of incriminating recorded phone calls over the years, the agency told her they could not make an arrest until they had solid evidence, including names of actual victims.
The FBI declined to be interviewed for the documentary.
Sisters Hannah Parrett and Christian Showalter are Jared Fogle’s victims featured in the documentary. Their stepfather admitted to making child pornography for Fogle using hidden cameras in their bedrooms. Discovery Plus
Authorities caught Fogle after Taylor was arrested for possession of child pornography
Taylor’s stepdaughters, Hannah Parrett and Christian Showalter, are featured throughout the film.
Taylor was in constant communication with Fogle and traveled around the US with him. Parrett and Showalter described Fogle as “low-key” with a “careful personality”.
But their stepfather and “Uncle Jared” image was shattered in 2015.
Then Chuck Cohen of the Indiana State Police gets a tip about someone illegally dealing in livestock. The tip led them to Taylor’s home.
Police found hidden cameras in Parrett and Showalter’s bedrooms and bathrooms. The cameras were positioned to capture the children unclothed, Cohen said. Investigators then found videos of children engaging in sexual acts, Cohen said.
Parrett and Showalter said investigators told them about the cameras. They and their friends were unwittingly photographed for years.
“Russell, he watched us in the shower, watched us get dressed in our rooms, watched us masturbate,” Showalter said. “We were being watched 24/7.
Jared Fogle was arrested in 2015. AP
“He was the puppeteer”
Fogle released a statement saying he was severing ties with Taylor immediately after his arrest. But he couldn’t distance himself from Taylor for too long.
In the documentary, Cohen said that while investigating Taylor, authorities discovered an image of a naked child sent to Fogle. De Brota, the assistant U.S. attorney, opened an investigation into Fogle.
Taylor told investigators he produced child pornography for Fogle, DeBrota said.
“He was the puppeteer and Russell was his puppet,” Parrett said of Fogle and her stepfather’s relationship.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for Fogle’s home, leading to a raid that turned into a media spectacle on a memorable rainy day.
“It was the classic media circus,” reporter Tim Evans said in the documentary, which covered the story at the time for The Indianapolis Star.
Herman said she watched the attack on television.
She decided it was finally time to talk.
She contacted a local TV station and was interviewed by TV journalist Max Vinitz. She said Fogle told her about his sexual relationships with children.
Vinitz then asked her, “What is Jared Fogle to you?”
