FBI Knew About Jared Fogle’s Child Rape For YEARS Before Arresting Him (VIDEO) October 30, 2015Marc Belisle US

The FBI knew about former Subway advertising mascot Jared Fogle’s child pornography and pedophilia for years before arresting him. A recent report in The Free Thought Project quoted multiple sources in making this shocking revelation. The recordings that helped trap Fogle were released to the public on Wednesday. In damning audio recordings, Fogle admitted his attraction to children to Rochelle Herman-Walrond, a former journalist in Florida. Herman-Walrond reported the information to the FBI, who then asked her to wear a wiretap for the purpose of getting additional evidence. She did so on numerous occasions. It eventually took the FBI four and a half years to finally arrest Fogle — which they did in August. Rochelle gave anonymous interviews about Jared Fogle earlier this year. Now, she’s opening up to the media, and expressing her frustration that it took the FBI so long to conclude the case. In an interview, she told local Sarasota, Florida ABC affiliate WWSB, “That was my fear. All these years, the longer it went on, is the longer there was [an] opportunity for more and more victims. It just really takes my breath away thinking about it.” Herman-Walrond indicated that she believes that there are more than the 14 victims that Fogle was convicted of abusing. She said that Jared told her about victims in the US and abroad. WWSB asked her if she thought he would ever get arrested. She responded, “After so many years, I started to really have my doubts. I didn’t know it would take as long. … I would do it all over again. But no, I did not think it would take this long. Only did I find out it would take this long is when I went to the local police department here and was

putting a complaint in, basically, because I didn’t understand why was this taking so long, because the opportunity for more victims was great.” CNN reported that Herman-Walrond first became aware of Fogle’s disturbing predilections when he was at a school for a health event that she was covering, and he said that he thought middle school girls were “hot.” She later gained Fogle’s trust by pretending to be willing to put a hidden camera in her children’s bedroom for him. About the experience, she told WWSB, “It took a lot out of me to endure, all those years, working undercover and having to have those conversations with a man that is clearly a sick individual.” WWSB asked Herman-Walrond why she thought Fogle admitted his pedophilia to her and other women cited by the FBI. She replied, “Did he have something inside that was compelling him that he wanted to reveal what he was doing? Did he want to get caught? I don’t know. I don’t know what was going through his mind.” Fogle was sentenced to 5 to 12.5 years in prison, $100,000 restitution to each of 14 admitted victims, and he has to register as a sex offender. Herman-Walrond said that she didn’t think it was “much of a punishment,” saying, “he caused a lot of pain.” WWSB asked Herman-Walrond what Fogle is to her. She said, “A monster. He’s a monster.” It is indeed frustrating that the FBI had evidence of Fogle’s pedophilia for years, and yet Fogle remained free. It is also upsetting, as HermanWalrond said, that Fogle got a relatively light sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. But is there a method to the FBI’s madness?

The FBI doesn’t just go after individuals in small cases. The FBI often tries to use evidence of child pornography, or other crimes, to leverage the information to catch many more criminals or end an entire criminal operation. For example, in 2013, the FBI raided a child pornography operation in Nebraska. Rather than merely arresting the proprietors and shutting it down, they took over the operation, kept it running, and gained information on 5,000 of the site’s users. Furthermore, the FBI typically doesn’t act on an accusation unless it is sure that it has an airtight case. Nothing would be worse than if they had arrested Fogle with debatable evidence, he contested it in court, got away, and then used his wealth and connections to try to retaliate somehow. It is possible that the FBI was hoping to use Fogle to bust other child abusers and was building a painstakingly solid case. However, if there were victims after the FBI had evidence with which it could have arrested Fogle, it could raise ethical questions about how far the Bureau lets suspects go to reel in others. Watch Herman-Walrond’s full interview with WWSB here: Featured image via Flickr.