Jared Fogle, Disgraced Subway Pitchman, To Be Sentenced Today On Child Porn And Sex Crimes Charges

Jared Fogle, the former Subway sandwich pitchman who fell from grace this summer after being arrested on child pornography charges, is due to be sentenced today, Thursday, November 19, in a federal courthouse in Indianapolis.

This past July, Jared Fogle made national headlines when his home was raided by federal investigators searching for child pornography. The sandwich chain that made Fogle famous suspended its relationship with their spokesman in July, following the child pornography allegations, and cut ties with him altogether in August, when Fogle agreed to plead guilty to numerous charges, including crossing state lines to commit sex acts with minors, and receiving and distributing child pornography, reports Fortune.

Today, Jared Fogle sits in a federal courtroom awaiting his sentencing on charges that could land him up to 50 years in jail — child pornography charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, while sex with a minor carries a maximum of 30 years. Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 12-and-a-half years, while Fogle’s attorneys have asked for no more than five years.

Jared Fogle has admitted to paying for sex with girls as young as 16-years-old, and receiving child pornography produced by the former executive director of The Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor. Taylor, who has agreed to plead guilty to charges of child exploitation and child pornography — and who will be sentenced next month — is alleged to have secretly filmed 12 minors of varying ages, while they were nude, changing clothes, and engaging in other activities, in order to produce his child pornography.

In a sentencing memorandum last month, prosecutors said that Jared Fogle received pictures or videos from Taylor, of eight of those 12 youths — some who were as young as 12-years-old — and that Fogle could have stopped Taylor from victimizing those children, but instead encouraged him to produce more.

“Fogle has sacrificed absolutely everything he had built — including his family — to engage in sexually explicit conduct with two minors. He emboldened a molester and a producer of child pornography.”

According to Indy Star, whose reporter is currently live-updating Jared Fogle’s hearing, Fogle will take the stand at some point today. It will be his first public comments on the case. Before Jared takes the stand, forensic psychiatrist John Bradford, of the University of Ottawa, testified by phone for the defense.

Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle will be sentenced today. Here are 5 things to know https://t.co/icmTAk8NzP pic.twitter.com/vg3PXlGSJ2

— 13WMAZ News (@13wmaznews) November 19, 2015

Bradford told the court that his evaluation of Jared Fogle included a blood test which tests for “hormones responsible for sexual drives,” as well as a list of questions and a test measuring Fogle’s “sexual interest.” Another test administered by Bradford was a “sexual arousal test” that included visual stimulations — such as pictures and slides — of men and women, as well as of boys and girls of differing ages. Bradford also said that Fogle admitted to having “mild or infrequent fantasies about pre-pubertal children,” but that his main focus was older minors.

“Looking at all of this, I believe he did suffer from pedophilia, except it didn’t involve acting out with a child. He denies he ever touched a child. There’s no evidence I know that he molested a child.

“Not that he doesn’t have an interest in children, but he has never laid a hand on, or molested, a child.”

Bradford’s final diagnosis for Jared Fogle was “mild pedophilia” — a term he admitted is not used by others in his field.

Before Fogle’s sentencing today, he agreed to pay out $1.4 million in restitution to his 14 victims, and had, as of Thursday morning, 12 of Fogle’s victims had received their restitution, and though Fogle’s lawyer said there was “some question” about processing payments for the other two victims ahead of the hearing this morning, Jared handed his lawyer a check for $200,000 for the remaining victims.

Jared Fogle is expected to receive his prison sentence sometime today, though because sentencing hearings can sometimes take hours to conclude, it is still unclear when Fogle’s sentence will be handed down.

[Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images]