Ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle gets 15 years in prison for child sex crimes

The former spokesman pleaded guiulty this summer after a raid on his home

Jared Fogle attends the Los Angeles premiere of Disney-Pixar's 'Inside Out' in 2015. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle has been jailed for 15 years for child sex abuse crimes.

Fogle agreed in August to plead guilty to one count each of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and distribution and receipt of child sex abuse material.

The charges followed a July raid on his suburban Indianapolis home and the resulting criminal case destroyed his career with the sandwich restaurant chain, the Associated Press said.

Jared Fogle leaves the Federal Courthouse in Indianapolis. (Associated Press/Michael Conroy)

Before entering his guilty plea during Thursday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt asked Fogle whether he understood the punishment he could face and he answered “Yes, your honour. I do.”

Fogle had admitted paying for sex with girls as young as 16 and receiving child sex abuse material produced by Russell Taylor, the former executive director of The Jared Foundation, a nonprofit Fogle started to raise awareness and money to fight childhood obesity.

Authorities said Taylor secretly filmed 12 minors as they were nude, changing clothes, or engaged in other activities using hidden cameras in his residences.

The AP reported that prosecutors had said in a sentencing memorandum filed last week that Fogle received photos or videos from Taylor of eight of those 12 youths, and that some of those images were of girls as young as 12.

Fogle could have stopped Taylor from victimising some of minors, prosecutors have said, but he instead encouraged Taylor to produce additional material.