Ex-associate to former Subway pitchman gets 27 years for child porn

INDIANAPOLIS » The former director of a foundation started by ex-Subway pitchman Jared Fogle was sentenced to 27 years in prison today for producing child pornography that played a role in Fogle’s criminal case.

A federal judge sentenced Russell Taylor, who agreed in September to plead guilty to child exploitation and child porn charges and admitted using hidden cameras to produce pornography of 12 children. Taylor also will have lifetime supervision after he serves his sentence.

Taylor was executive director of the Jared Foundation, a nonprofit that Fogle started to raise awareness and money to fight childhood obesity, from 2009 until May, when prosecutors filed child porn charges against Taylor.

The minimum sentence under federal law was 15 years. Prosecutors sought a 35-year sentence for the 44-year-old Indianapolis man. His attorneys wanted a sentence ranging from 15 years to nearly 23 years.

Authorities said Taylor secretly filmed 12 children who were nude, changing clothes or engaged in other activities. They said he used cameras hidden in his Indianapolis-area homes to produce child pornography.

Indiana authorities who raided Fogle’s suburban Indianapolis home in July have said their probe began in September 2014 based on a tip to Indiana State Police regarding Taylor’s sexual interest in children.

Federal prosecutors said Fogle, a 38-year-old father of two, received photos or videos from Taylor of eight of Taylor’s 12 child victims and encouraged him to produce more child pornography.

Fogle was sentenced last month to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to trading in child pornography and having sex with two underage prostitutes.

Taylor’s attorneys said in a court filing that Taylor is deeply remorseful for his actions, that he has a history of mental illness and that he was sexually abused as a child. They also said that Fogle was psychologically abusive to Taylor and exercised financial control over Taylor after hiring him to run his foundation.