Investigation Discovery (ID) will stream a documentary on Jared Fogle, an ex-spokesman for Subway restaurants. Titled Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster, the upcoming docuseries will hit the network on Monday, March 6, 2023, at 9 pm ET.
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of child p*rnography and child s*x crimes. Discretion is advised.
Viewers can also stream the three-part mini docuseries on Discovery+ the same day. Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster will expectedly chronicle his rise to being the eatery’s face for over a decade and fall from grace after being convicted of child s*x crimes.
Jared Fogle shot into the media spotlight when his former dormmate wrote an article about him in a student-run newspaper at Indiana University in April 1999.
A few months later, when Men's Health magazine carried his story, a Subway franchisee took notice. This eventually led to Fogle’s business relationship with the food chain until his arrest in 2015. Fogle was also known as The Subway Guy.
Jared Fogle: His rise to fame, arrest, and other details
1) Jared Fogle’s becoming of Subway’s face
Jared Fogle, raised in a Jewish home, weighed 193 kg or 425 pounds when he studied at Indiana University in 1998. His health rendered the then 20-year-old Indianapolis native incapable of even strolling around the campus.
That’s when Jared Fogle incorporated more exercise and two Subway sandwiches into his daily routine. It worked and he lost over half his body weight in almost a year.
His dormmate noticed this and wrote an article on him for the Indiana Daily Student, an independent, student-run newspaper run by Indiana University in April 1999. Following that, Men’s Health carried the story under an article titled Stupid Diets... that Work! in their November 1999 edition.
This caught the attention of a Chicago area-based Subway franchisee, which led to Jared Fogle's first test commercial on January 1, 2000. After it was well received, his business association with Subway kick-started, which continued until his arrest in 2015.
2) He was arrested in 2015
Russell Taylor, the director of Fogle's nonprofit organization, the Jared Foundation, was arrested on April 29, 2015. He was arrested on charges of possession of child p*rnography, exploitation, and voyeurism.
That's how Jared Fogle’s crimes came to light, as per United States Department of Justice spokesman Tim Horty. In July 2015, the FBI raided his residence in July and found substantial evidence connecting him to child p*rnography and s*x crimes.
He was subsequently arrested and law enforcement officers removed computers and other electronic equipment from his Zionsville, Indiana, residence. Subway followed suit and pulled the plug on their business relationship.
In 2015, the court sentenced Jared Fogle to 15 years and 8 months in federal prison. In December of that year, he was confined to the Englewood-based Federal Correctional Institution.
Fogle also had to pay $1.4 million in restitution to his 14 victims.
3) Allegations against Jared Fogle first surfaced in 2007
Allegations against Fogle surfaced eight years before his arrest. That was when a journalist, Rochelle Herman-Walrond, informed the Sarasota Police Department about Fogle in 2007.
She reported that he made l*wd comments about middle school-age girls to her. Herman-Walrond also approached the FBI about the same, and after the agency asked her for more evidence, she befriended the man. Following that, over the next four years, she recorded his comments about having s*x with minors.
He apparently asked the journalist to install cameras in her children’s rooms so that he could watch them. However, the case did not gain momentum due to a lack of substantial proof.
4) Personal life
Born on August 23, 1977, Jared Fogle married Kathleen McLaughlin, a teacher, in August 2010. The couple had a son in 2011, and a daughter two years later. After his incarceration, she divorced him and relocated to an undisclosed location for her children’s safety.
5) Pop culture
Fogle became the subject of numerous TV shows, parody sketches, and the like from 2001 to 2004. Noted TV show host Jimmy Fallon played him in an SNL parody commercial in 2001.
A year later, South Park made an episode on him, namely Jared Has Aides. He was also featured in their 2017 video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole.
While the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember referenced him, he appeared in the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, along with several TV shows, including Jimmy Kimmel Live.