The Indianapolis Star's Tim Evans and Mark Alesia have a lengthy story today discussing the ongoing investigation of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. The key bit of information included in the report is a suggestion the former executive director of the Jared Foundation, Russell Taylor, who is now in jail facing federal child pornography charges following his arrest last April, may be cooperating with federal investigators in the case. Taylor attempted to take his life in May at the Marion Co. jail, but he recently agreed to suspend his right to a speedy trial to allow federal investigators more time to prepare charges according to court records filed in that case.
The Star report focuses primarily on Taylor, who Fogle supposedly met while Taylor was employed by the American Heart Association prior to joining the Fogle Foundation in 2007. Taylor attended Martinsville High School briefly, but he graduated from the Good Shepherd Baptist Academy in Mooresville. Taylor appeared to complete Air Force basic training in Texas and served as a reserve airman. He attended Indiana Wesleyan University, but it doesn't appear he earned a degree. Taylor has been married twice and has two adolescent sons. A divorce proceeding for his current marriage is pending in Marion County. Taylor claimed to own a "Blue Outhouse Studios" in West Hollywood, California, but the Star could find no proof of the business' existence.
Taylor caught the attention of federal investigators last year after a woman contacted authorities to report he had sent her messages offering to share with her images of young girls Taylor and had asked the woman to join him at another person's home to engage in bestiality. Taylor told the woman he had traveled to Thailand in the past, a country popular for Americans to travel on sex tourism trips. When police later searched Taylor's home in Indianapolis, they found images of children as young as nine on his computers, as well as some videos he had recorded of young children in his home while they were nude.
In Taylor's work at the Jared Foundation, he often traveled with Fogle to schools to discuss childhood obesity, the mission of the foundation. The Star learned the nonprofit's registration with the Secretary of State had expired in 2009, although its records with the IRS appeared to be current. Taylor earned about $40,000 a year for his full-time job with the foundation.
UPDATE: The celebrity gossip site, TMZ.com, says investigators found nothing incriminating when they searched his home last week according to supposed sources inside the Fogle. camp.
6 comments:
You have to wonder why no background check the foundation did on this guy, especially knowing that he might be working around kids. Something just seems off that he was making $40k, for what appears to be a fairly decent sized foundation, with apparently a very fishy background.
Actually, the foundation's budget was pretty small according to the tax returns it filed with the IRS. It couldn't afford to pay him much more than it was. I'm not sure it was doing much more than providing a platform for Fogle to make appearances at schools while promoting the Subway brand.
I feel for the 4 classmates that had their yearbook pictures plastered in the story and as far as I see have nothing to do with this story. Must be collateral damage? Does anyone proof read these articles?
Has anyone investigated what Bill Levin was doing in Thailand for several years?
The Gannett folks have the resources to find out, anon. 9:49. Why don't you ask them since they are so interested in promoting him. The pothead's 15-minutes of fame are over as far as I'm concerned.
I'm hearing lots of things about Mr. Fogle that are totally at odds with his carefully crafted corporate persona...things that, when it comes right down to it, sort of fit the self-indulgent Hoosier man meme. The newly revealed Jared as described by Florida gal sounds a lot more like my suburban Indy neighbors than Subway Pitchman Jared. Time will tell but the missus always said this guy wasn't who he pretended to be. Looks like she was right about that. Now we get to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. No sympathy for Subway on this. If there's even an ounce of truth to it, no sympathy for Fogle either.
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