Crime

Prosecutors Reveal New Text Exchanges Between Jared Fogle and Adult Escorts: 'Do You Have Any Access to Young Girls?'

Fogle is trying to get his nearly 16-year prison sentenced reduced

Published on April 19, 2016 04:40 PM

In response to former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle’s appeal seeking to reduce the length of his prison sentence, prosecutors have filed court documents containing text messages sent by Fogle allegedly showing him trying to arrange sexual encounters with minors.

The documents, obtained by PEOPLE and first reported on by TMZ, were filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. They follow Fogle’s sentencing in November to almost 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with two minors, aged 16 and 17.

In February, Fogle filed an appeal of the sentence, saying that it exceeded the maximum 12.5 years prosecutors agreed to ask for.

The prosecution’s recent filing contains text exchanges between Fogle and adult escorts. In one instance, he texts an escort asking for “young girls or boys” who can prove their age. “If they can and you get me 16 or below, I’ll give you 400 at least.”

Another time, he texts an escort, “Is your Asian friend available?…I can pay you a little finder’s fee. I ll pay you big for a 14- or 15-year-old,” according to the documents.

Another time, Fogle texts an escort, “So, I have a proposition for you. And it’s something I would pay you very well if you were able to help.”

When the escort asks how she can help, Fogle texts: “Do you have any access to any young girls? Like 15 or 16?” Fogle texts an adult escort, in one example not previously released. Fogle adds that sex with girls that age “is what I crave!” and adds, “I would hook you up nicely if you [helped].

The escort responds that she has a cousin who is 15. Fogle writes back: “What does she look like? If she’s good looking I would give you 300 and her the same.”

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Prosecutor’s Contend Fogle’s Sentencing Was ‘Proper’ and ‘Reasonable’

Fogle has appealed his sentence, but in the prosecution’s filing, prosecutors say the sentence was both “proper” and “reasonable.” The filing stated the judge “thoroughly and appropriately explored the unusual nature and circumstances of Fogle’s offenses and his history and characteristics.”

In his filing, Fogle contended that he was punished not only for his actual crimes but for his “thoughts” and “fantasies” as well.

But prosecutors contend he was sentenced for his conduct, including engaging in detailed negotiations with prostitutes, “who he later contacted during his travels to offer finder’s fees in exchange for helping him to locate minors he could sleep with for money,” the filing says.

Fogle claimed that because these plans with minors sometimes did not come to fruition, he should not be sentenced for activities that never took place. Prosecutors counter, however, that he “deserves no leniency for being thwarted in his attempts to exploit more children than he already had,” according to the documents.

Prosecutors contend Judge Tanya Walton Pratt was right to impose a lengthier sentence for a number of reasons: They cited that he personally knew the children filmed in the homemade pornography for which he was sentenced, that there were hundreds of pornographic videos or photos and that he obtained commercial pornography involving victims as young as six years old.

Fogle’s attorney, Ron Elberger, declined to comment to PEOPLE.