Jared Fogle Appeals Sentence

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Ex-Subway pitchman Jared Fogle asks for shorter prison sentence for sex crimes - Former Subway star and convicted sex offender Jared Fogle asked for a shortened prison term Friday, months after a judge sentenced the child porn-collecting pitchman to more than 15 years behind bars — three years longer than prosecutors’ requested punishment.

Fogle's attorney argued that the District Court judge in Indianapolis abused her authority by giving Fogle the heftier sentence in November. Under his plea deal prosecutors agreed to request a maximum 12 ½-year sentence while Fogle agreed not to seek a sentence of less than five years in prison.

But U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt elected to go beyond the prosecution's recommendation, sentencing Fogle to 15 years and eight months. She could have sentenced him to up to 50 years in prison.

The Friday appeal called that decision “unreasonable,” and asked the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to throw out the prison term and order resentencing.

“The District Court's ruling also undermines the notions of trust and fairness that undergird our delicate system of plea bargaining,” Fogle's appeal said.

The fast food icon’s downfall started when federal officials raided his suburban Indianapolis home in July and seized several computers and DVDs from the married dad.

Investigators arrived with a warrant after the former head of Fogle’s childhood obesity charity was arrested earlier this year on similar child porn charges.

Fogle later admitted he paid for sex at New York City hotels with girls who were 16 or 17 years old and that he had received some child pornography produced by the one-time head of his anti-obesity charity, Russell Taylor. Fogle also paid a total of $1.4 million to his 14 victims, with each getting $100,000.

Taylor was sentenced in December to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to 12 counts of child exploitation and one count of distributing child pornography. Prosecutors say Taylor used hidden cameras in his Indianapolis-area homes to secretly film 12 minors who were nude, changing clothes, or engaged in other activities.

Defense attorney Ronald Elberger argues that in determining Fogle's 188-month sentence the judge wrongly considered allegations for which he didn't face criminal charges, including discussions he had with others about possible sexual contact with other minors and collecting pornography of children as young as 6 years old.

The appeal maintains that the child pornography was on a thumb drive that Fogle received from Taylor and viewed, "but that does not amount to a contention that Fogle actively sought, collected and distributed images of 6-year-olds."

"Fogle acknowledges that he has committed inexcusable acts for which he takes full responsibility and is genuinely remorseful," the appeal said. Prosecutors "knew everything the District Court knew and still agreed to a below-guidelines sentence that adequately reflected the severity of the crimes to which Fogle pleaded."

Fogle, a weight-loss sensation on the Indiana University campus, debuted in his first commercial for Subway in 2000 after the sandwich chain caught wind of the student’s transformation. Once weighing a whopping 425 pounds with a 60-inch waist, Fogle dropped 245 pounds on a do-it-yourself diet of nothing but turkey and vegetable subs from the campus Subway.

“The Subway Guy” became a national sensation, and Fogle appeared two years ago in a Super Bowl ad marking the 15-year anniversary of his diet program.