Subway Pitchman Jared Fogle’s Home Searched in Child Porn Case
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Authorities searched the Indiana home of Subway sandwich chain pitchman Jared Fogle on Tuesday, about two months after the executive director of his foundation was arrested on federal child pornography charges, local media reported.
Fogle, well known from his appearances on Subway television commercials, was detained outside his home in the town of Zionsville as law enforcement agents removed electronics from the house, local news outlet WTHR reported.
The Indiana State Police assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana in the investigation, according to state police spokesman Sergeant Richard Myers. He declined to provide details of the investigation.
Tim Horty, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, also declined to provide details.
Agents from the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service were also at the scene of Fogle’s home, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Russell Taylor, the former executive director of the Jared Foundation, was arrested on May 3 and charged with seven counts of production and one count of possession of child pornography.
Taylor’s arrest was part of a joint investigation by the Indiana State Police, the local Indianapolis police department and the FBI into internet and violent crimes against children, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Subway, a privately held company, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Fogle became a Subway spokesman after losing a reported 245 pounds (111 kg) in part by eating regularly at the sandwich chain. He has been cited by the Indiana State Department of Health as a “role model” and was appointed to the governor’s council for physical fitness and sports.
He made his first Subway commercial in 2000 and appeared in a new one last year, according to the company’s website. He started the Jared Foundation to help fight the spread of childhood obesity and authored a book called “Winning Through Losing” in 2006, according to the company’s website.
Born to Norman and Adrienne Fogle in Indianapolis, the 37-year-old “Subway Guy” grew up Jewish, and was even bar mitzvahed in Israel on a Federation=sponsored trip. In 2006, he helped launch Subway’s first kosher franchise, at the Cleveland JCC. “I grew up in Indianapolis, and the JCC was a big part of my life,” he told the at the time. “I spent many summers at the JCC, so to have a Subway at the JCC means a lot to me.”
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