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Jared Fogle Gets 15 Years For Having Sex With Minors, Must Serve 85 Percent Of Sentence

By Phyllis Asinyanbi
Published on: 02:24 PST, Nov 20, 2015

Jared Fogle gets 15 years and eight months, a total of 188 months, after a conviction on child pornography and sex with minors charges. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt handed down a sentence that was even tougher than the federal sentencing recommendation of 14 years. The convicted former Subway spokesman must also pay a $175,000 fine.

Fogle, 38, has also paid into a $1.4 million fund, which will give $100,000 in restitution to each victim. In a last ditch effort to obtain a lighter sentence for his client, attorney Jeremy Margolis made claims that his client “traded a horrible food addiction for a horrible sex addiction,” reported the New York Post. He had hopes that his client would get five–not 15 years–for his crimes.

Not only did a forensic psychologist speak on behalf of Fogle, but he also spoke for himself during the sentencing phase of the trial. There was never a denial that he committed the acts against minors, as he plead guilty on all 14 charges. He wept as he offered an explanation.

“For most of my adult life, I’ve been in the spotlight, trying to be a role model. [Then] I became dependent on alcohol, pornography and prostitutes. Not a day will go by when I don’t think about what I did.”

Investigators initially raided his home in July after he became a suspect in a child pornography case involving Russell C. Taylor, the former executive director of the Jared Foundation, which was founded to combat childhood obesity. In May, Taylor was charged after authorities acted on a tip. More than 400 homemade child pornography videos and pictures were found in his home office in Indianapolis.

After the judge rejected a plea by Fogle’s attorney for a five-year sentence and ultimately gave him 15 years, Josh J. Minkler, the United States attorney in Indianapolis, read a statement noting that the accused had knowledge that individuals in the videos and pictures were under 18 and that he was also aware of Taylor’s family relationship to the victims, sometimes including names, according to a New York Times report.

Prosecutors detailed the level of Fogle’s deviance and preference for sex with children.

After paying an 18-year-old Las Vegas prostitute for sex, he texted this message, “I’ll pay you big for a 14- or 15-year-old.”

Throughout the sentencing hearing, the IndyStar reports that Pratt shared public opinion on the nature of Fogle’s crimes, which may have had a bearing on why he was sentenced to 15 years. The judge talked about how the well-known celebrity had been given great opportunities but threw them away. This was a reference to his back story of former morbid obesity and how it was overcome by eating Subway sandwiches and exercising.

“What a gift to have such a professional windfall fall in your lap.”

Before the sentence of 15 years was handed down, the now convicted felon made a statement referring to wife Katie McLaughlin and his two children, both under the age of 5, as being victims of his acts, added the New York Post. After he goes to prison, he said his wife would be a single mother. Pratt was not moved and interjected as the Fogle read a written statement.

“You gave your wife $7 million. She’ll be OK.”

Following the sentencing of 15 years, Fogle was taken to the Henderson County Detention Center in Kentucky. Pratt said she will recommend that the former Subway celebrity be imprisoned in Littleton, Colorado, because it has a program for sex offenders. But the Bureau of Prisons will have the final say.

Not only did Pratt decide that Fogle gets 15 years, but he will also have to serve a minimum of 85 percent of the sentence. The earliest he can be released will be at age 51.

[Photo by Joey Foley/Getty Images]

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