NBC News – Jared Fogle, the former Subway spokesman, will plead guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography and traveling to pay for sex with minors, federal prosecutors said in court documents.
The allegations involve at least 12 minors, and Fogle is accused of engaging in sexual acts with at least one of them, prosecutors say. In January 2013, he traveled from Indiana to New York City to have sex with a then-17-year-old girl at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, according to the documents.
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The same girl — identified as Minor Victim 13 — claims she was paid for sex on at least three occasions when she was 16, prosecutors say.
Federal prosecutors are asking for a sentence of up to 12 1/2 years behind bars, and Fogle has agreed to serve at least five years.
The charges come after federal agents seized computers and DVDs from Fogle's suburban Indianapolis home in July as part of a child pornography investigationinvolving the ex-head of his nonprofit foundation.
Charges against Fogle, a 37-year-old married father of two, had not been announced at that time.
Fogle appeared at a federal courthouse in Indianapolis on Wednesday morning to answer to the charges.
Fogle's attorney, Ron Elberger, had no comment Tuesday on reports about the charges. He previously said Fogle "has been cooperating, and continues to cooperate, with law enforcement in their investigation of unspecified charges and looks forward to its conclusion."
The 11-hour sweep of Fogle's Zionsville home came more than two months afterthe arrest of Russell Taylor, the executive director of the Jared Foundation, which works to prevent childhood obesity.
Taylor, 43, faces multiple counts of producing and possessing child pornography following a similar raid on his Indianapolis home in April.
Investigators said they recovered a thumb drive that included more than 400 videos of child porn and a document with Taylor's employer in the file name, according to a federal criminal complaint.
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Fogle said in a previous statement that he was shocked at the charges and that his foundation was ending its relationship with Taylor.
Fogle gained national notoriety as a weight loss inspiration after the sandwich chain first featured him in a commercial in 2000. Once a 425-pound undergraduate at Indiana University, Fogle said he began eating at Subway to help him shed 245 pounds.
On Tuesday, the company appeared to suggest it had parted ways with Fogle, saying in a tweet that "we no longer have a relationship" with him.
https://twitter.com/SUBWAY/status/633768668346847232