Subway guy Jared Fogle’s story just got worse

FOR four years, Jared Fogle thought his conversations with Rochelle Herman-Walrond were just private chats between friends. He felt comfortable confessing his deepest desires to her, no matter how twisted.

How wrong he was.

The former Subway spruiker, who became a millionaire poster boy and weigh-loss success story off the back of the sandwich chain, found global ignominy two months ago, when he pleaded guilty to child po charges. Court documents later alleged he had paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and was offering a finder’s fee to prostitutes and other underage girls to put him in contact with others he could abuse. The 38-year-old father’s fall from grace was stratospheric. His wife immediately filed for divorce.

But things are about to get a whole lot worse for Jared Fogle, because Rochelle Herman-Walrond wasn’t the only one listening to his telephone confessions. So was the FBI. And all of it was being recorded.

In secret audiotapes, being aired on US television tomorrow, Fogle can be heard explaining how he gained the trust of young people, how he liked to abuse little boys and girls equally and what it was like when he had sex with minors.

“It was amazing. It just felt so good. I mean, it felt so good,” he said in one taped conversation.

Asked what tued him on the most, he replied: “Both (boys and girls) do. Both of them.”

What Fogle didn’t know was that Rochelle Herman-Walrond, a joualist from a Florida radio station, was pretending to be his friend in an effort to expose him.

Jared Fogle before he shed half his body weigh and became ‘Subway guy’.Source:News Limited

On two episodes of the hit TV talk show Dr Phil, airing on Thursday and Friday, Ms Herman-Walrond reveals how she followed her instincts when Fogle admitted on her radio program that he found teenagers attractive. Fogle had been working with teens for years as part of an anti-obesity foundation he set up off the back of his Subway fame. The Jared Foundation also employed Russell Taylor, a man also accused of producing child po.

Ms Herman-Walrond said talking to Fogle made her feel sick.

“I’m removing myself from who I am and embracing an imaginary person, Ms Herman-Walrond told TV host Dr Phil McGraw of her dealings with him.

“I had to be two separate people in order to continue on with this investigation.”

At times, Fogle even asked Ms Herman-Walrond her about her own children and their friends.

“Are there any of your kids’ friends that you think are pretty hot?” he once asked her.

“What if we put a camera in your kids’ room, would they be okay with that?”

Fogle is accused of travelling to Thailand in 2008 to have sex with minors. He is also believed to have paid a 16-year-old for sex after meeting the minor on Craigslist, a website trading in jobs, services and personal ads.

“I would fly us clear across the world if we need to. To Thailand or wherever we want to go. If we’re gonna try to get some young kids with us it would be a lot easier,” Fogle told Ms Herman-Walrond.

Fogle’s wife immediately filed for divorce.Source:News Limited

Fogle has two children of his own.

The former obese junk food addict shot to fame — and banked a $15 million fortune — after he claimed to have lost more than half his body weight by switching to Subway sandwiches.

In-store appearances and television commercials holding the jeans he used to wear followed. The first advertisement aired in 2000. Six years later he went on Ms Herman-Walrond’s show and confessed he thought middle school (years 6-9) students were “hot”.

“He would tell me ages that he was interested in — boy or girl,” Ms Herma-Walrond told the New York Post in August.

“He would also indicate the fact that he has done it before and told me in gross detail what transpired.”

She said she believed Fogle deserved to rot in prison.

“Those children suffer — those children’s lives have changed forever.”

Fogle struck a plea deal with prosecutors in August, which includes agreeing to pay $1.4 million — or $100,000 each — to 14 separate victims identified in court documents. The evidence against him included disgusting text messages he sent to minors back in 2012 seeking nude photos and pre-arranged sex, telling them “the younger the girl, the better”.

He is due to be sentenced in court on November 19, where he is expected to receive a five-year jail term.

“Jared is accepting responsibility for what he has done,” Fogle’s lawyer Jeremy Margolis said at the time.

“Jared also understands that he requires significant psychiatric medical treatment and counselling. He has already begun that process by being extensively examined by a world-renowned expert in sexual conditions in order to chart a course to recovery. It is Jared’s intent and goal to become healthy again.”

His wife at the time, Katie Fogle, said the revelations had floored her.

Obviously, I am extremely shocked and disappointed by the recent developments involving Jared.

“I am in the process of seeking a dissolution of the marriage. My focus is exclusively on the wellbeing of my children.”

Subway quickly dumped him, describing his actions as “inexcusable”.