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August 18, 2015
What sort of child porn federal plea deal might be in works for Subway pitchman Jared Fogle?
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this (celebrity?) federal criminal justice news emerging from Indiana late today: "Jared Fogle, the former Subway spokesman, is expected to plead guilty to possession of child pornography charges." Here are the details:
Sources say Fogle will accept a plea deal Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will hold a press conference tomorrow afternoon to discuss the deal and charges against Fogle. Fogle’s attorney, Ron Elberger, had no comment in regards to the plea deal. He said any information regarding the charges would come from the attorney’s office. Elberger did say Fogle’s suspension with Subway continues....
The charges come after federal agents raided Fogle’s Zionsville home in early July. FBI sources confirmed to FOX59 state and federal investigators were serving warrants at his home in connection with a child pornography investigation. Several computers and DVDs were seized from Fogle’s home.
Earlier this year, Russell Taylor, the former director of the Jared Foundation started by Fogle, was arrested in a child pornography case. He was accused of possessing and producing child pornography. Investigators said a search of Taylor’s home turned up more than 500 videos with images of child pornography. In May, Taylor unsuccessfully tried to kill himself while in jail.
Fogle gained national fame after attributing massive weight loss to eating Subway sandwiches. He was a freshman at Indiana University at the time. He later became a visible presence in Subway ad campaigns, pitching the restaurant’s sandwiches and touting their health benefits.
Subway suspended their relationship with the spokesman shortly after the raid.
Prior related post:
August 18, 2015 at 11:49 PM | Permalink
Comments
Producing?
Drop the hammer. But here's the thing--if he pleads guilty to possession--that will be the conviction, not production. I wonder how many people that Doug thinks should be let out of prison (with unsupportable estimates of cost savings--Doug actually used average costs, not marginal costs to determine savings) really were guilty of worse conduct, but got a plea deal.
Posted by: federalist | Aug 19, 2015 8:51:47 AM
Federalist, I've been in the defense business a long time, and I've never heard of a single instance in which the feds offered a possession, receipt, or distribution plea to a producer. I doubt that anyone in the business has ever heard of such a case.
Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 19, 2015 3:43:37 PM
Fair point anonymous--I trust, though, that you get the larger point. Criminals do bad stuff and get good deals from pleas, and what they pled to, rather than what they did, generally becomes the focus of efforts to get them out.
I am not really all that sympathetic to kiddie porn viewers.
Posted by: federalist | Aug 19, 2015 5:34:25 PM
