Former Subway Pitchman Expected To Plead Guilty to Child Porn Charges
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) -- Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle is expected to plead guilty to child pornography charges Wednesday, an Indiana television station reported.
The news comes six weeks after investigators seized his computers and other electronic items from his home in Zionsville, an upscale Indianapolis suburb.
Subway suspended its association with Fogle after the raid. The company declined to comment Tuesday, saying only that the chain had "already ended our relationship with Jared."
For the past five years, Opal Singleton, Riverside author of "Seduced" and President of the non-profit Million Kids, has been researching human trafficking and child pornography.
"I also think it's important for our society to understand that these people that are doing this can be anybody," Singleton said.
"In the work that I do, I'm just taken by how many regular-looking guys are caught up in this. Many of them are really sad, pediatricians, people who have worked their whole lives to help kids get caught up in it," he said.
The 37-year-old's troubles began in April when the former director of his childhood obesity foundation, The Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor, was arrested on charges of possessing and producing child pornography.
Singleton said technology nowadays can track child porn rings by scanning emails for illegal images. "If you're engaged in child pornography, I can almost guarantee you're going to be caught," he said.
Ron Elberger, an Indianapolis attorney who represents Fogle, and Tim Horty, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Indianapolis, both declined to comment on the report.
The U.S. Attorney's office plans on releasing more information Wednesday on Fogle and the reported plea deal.
Fogle became a Subway pitchman more than 15 years ago after shedding more than 200 pounds as a college student, in part by eating the chain's sandwiches.
