Warning: This article includes horrific quotes from actual Jared Fogle phone calls, in which he details sexual abuse of children.
Jared Fogle’s crimes were detailed in a new ID documentary, “Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster,” which includes some truly disturbing and downright sickening real-life phone calls of the Subway spokesperson bragging about and planning sex with children.
Fogle is currently serving 15 years in prison for sex crimes involving minors — but getting him behind bars was not an easy task. In the doc, journalist Rochelle Herman opens up about how she spent years trying to get him arrested, after he shockingly admitted to her that he found middle school aged girls “hot” off-air before an interview she did with him for a Sarasota TV station.
She was horrified, but had no evidence at the time so didn’t immediately go to the police. Instead, she started to speak with him over the phone, recording their calls as he became more comfortable with sharing his twisted thoughts, plans and actual crimes.
“I gave the appearance I was somebody he could confide in,” Herman says in the doc, claiming that at first he was very “flirtatious” with her, before inviting her to his hotel room and asking her to put her hair in pigtails. She bolted, but still kept a long distance phone relationship going with him. Eventually, she asked him what turned him on about “very young” people — with Fogle admitting, “They just have such nice, pure bodies, you know?”
At one point, she asked “how young” he wanted his sexual partners to be, as Fogle responded, “I don’t know, middle school or whatever.” When she asked, “Like 9 or 10?”, he told her, “Yeah, that’d be hot. That’d be really hot.”
As the conversations continued, Fogle asked “what kind of cute friends” her two children had, telling Herman, “I think that girl from the broken home could be a possibility, you know?” With that, she went to the FBI with her recordings — and then started working with the agency for years, listening to his sick fantasies and real-life experiences.
At one point, she asked about the youngest person Fogle had been with, as he said, “I think 11 or 12 … I don’t remember her name.” Unfortunately, since there was no physical proof of anything and the FBI couldn’t locate any actual victims, they were slow to make any arrests.
As their conversations continued, Fogle was heard describing, in horrific detail, his “most unique” experience.
“I mean it was definitely Thailand. I would love you to go with me. We can get whatever age we want. It’s just crazy, it’s just easy over there,” he said. “Different ages. I mean you just sort of choose who you want and there’s a price for it and off you go.”
According to Herman, Fogle frequently saw the same 10-11-year-old boy in the country, as viewers heard him describe one interaction as “so, so ******* hot.” When she noted it wasn’t feasible for him to “go to Thailand all the time,” he responded by telling her, “No, that’s why I’ve got to find some stuff over here, you know?”
By 2009, the FBI planned a sting operation with Herman, hoping to catch Fogle traveling to Florida with the specific intent of having sex with a minor. Herman invited him to Sarasota for a birthday party for her son and, as they spoke about the celebration, the conversations quickly turned sexual — comments made by Fogle that are too disturbing to share here.
One of the calls also included Herman asking Fogle whether there was “any kind of personality” to look out for when it came to selecting children. “I think that girl from the broken home could be a possibility, you know,” he said. After she reminded him the girl in question was only seven years old, he simply told her, “Okay, tell me about her.”
Their conversations took a more personal turn, however, when Fogle began asking about Herman’s own children.
“Will you do anything I tell you to do? Will you let me see your kids naked?” he asked her in one of the calls. “What if we put a camera in your kids’ room? Would they be okay with that? Would you rather have it in your son or your daughter’s room? Which one do you think would be better? Tell me.”
The party never happened and the initial FBI investigation didn’t lead to an arrest. Herman also turned to the local police department for help, but their hands were also tied. Fogle wouldn’t get arrested until the FBI started looking into his business partner, Russell Taylor, as part of a bestiality investigation. That search led to a child porn investigation after hidden cameras and images were found inside Taylor’s home — including some which had been sent directly to Fogle.
Looking back at how being involved in Fogle’s case affected her in the long run, Herman said, “The toll that working undercover for the FBI had on my health was astronomical.”
“The PTSD that I have experienced because of this has been debilitating. I truly believe that when someone undergoes such a stressful situation for so many years, it makes you susceptible to other things,” she said, adding that she was later diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
Herman said that while she doesn’t regret helping Fogle’s victims, she noted that they “tore my relationship with my children apart.” Her son — who moved to Taiwan — also said it also led to a strained relationship between him and both his sister and mother.
Toward the end of the doc, Herman expressed disappointment in Fogle’s eventual sentencing — saying, “There’s 14 victims. How is 15 years enough?”
“Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster” is streaming now on Discovery+.
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