01x02 - Part 2

[bunniefuu]

My name is Tim Evans.

I'm an investigative
reporter and editor

at the Indianapolis
Star newspaper.

And much of my work focuses
on child abuse and sexual abuse.

As a journalist,
as a storyteller.

The Jared Fogle
story is intriguing.

I worked on this investigation

and published several stories
about Jared Fogel's activities.

And I thought I was a star.

I was like, "Oh, I made it now."

But then my brother
Jared has to trump me.

And he did one and
he gets his up there.

The public regarded
Jared as a celebrity.

He would go places,
you know, schools.

Kids would be cheering,

lining up for autographs
to shake his hand.

So one thing I've learned,

you could never outdo Jared.

But Jared Fogle,
he used his power,

his popularity to
ingratiate himself

with the people he abused.

I'm trying to
raise a lot of money for...

For the urban initiative,
for Little League.

And always excited to be
back here in sunny Los Angeles.

He came across as
a very inspirational person.

A guy who lost a bunch of
weight eating sandwiches.

Then from that and he
was able to capitalize

and make a career and
make a small fortune.

Subway's business was
completely transformed.

They ended up making $8
billion or something ridiculous.

You made yourself a millionaire.

I think we see
time and time again

that fame and celebrity,
access to money

can be a destructive mix.

Jared Fogle used his popularity,

set up the Jared Foundation.

The Jared Foundation
provided education and events for schools

to talk about healthy
eating, exercise.

Okay, I'm here at
Soldier Creek Elementary

with none other than
Jared, The Subway Guy.

I'm trying to get the word
into as many kids as possible

just about the importance
of making healthy choices.

The person running
that foundation was Russell Taylor.

If you wanted to have someone
around your charitable foundation

who was trustworthy
and not a risk...

the last thing in the
world you would want

was Russell
Taylor involved in it.

Russell Taylor was a personal
train wreck waiting to happen.

Jared Fogle
had met Russell Taylor

at one of these community events

where Fogle was
the primary speaker.

Russell Taylor is working for
the American Heart Association.

Taylor offered to write a
speech for him, that went well.

And from there, it wasn't long

until Fogle offered him a
job leading his foundation.

I think Taylor was
kind of a hustler.

He was smooth, more of a player,

and had some game
that Fogle didn't have.

They were close. They
traveled together often.

They had kind of a
double life on the road,

promoting a good
lifestyle for young people.

And then at night,

they both kind of fed into each
other's addictions and problems.

Jared Fogle
finds Russell Taylor.

They became a toxic
combination with each other.

And that's why everything
that follows comes into place.

Russell
Taylor came into our life

when he was dating our
mother, Angela Taylor.

Our mom met Russell on Facebook

and they were speaking
via Facebook for a while,

and then we took
a trip to Chicago,

and that's where
we first met Russell.

I was about ten, and Christian
would have been about 13.

I just remember he was very tan

and he had dark hair.

He seemed nice.

He was very flashy.

Very charismatic. Very, um...

Very charming.

Very.

After our mom met Russell,

I think a lot of good
things started to happen.

When we moved
to Salem's Creek, I was excited.

The house was a lot bigger.

It felt very upper class
to me at least, you know.

Coming from lower-middle,
it was very fancy.

And all the
other houses we lived in,

Christian and I had
to share a room.

I finally got to have
my own space.

It was awesome.

Russell's
passion was definitely film.

Our whole basement was
actually themed as a movie theater,

and he had pictures of
classic films everywhere,

and he loved making
his own movies.

Russell actually had
his own little production company

he called Blue
Out House Studios.

Had his own logo and everything.

- It was a little weird, though.
- It was.

You know, because he made a
specific video of me playing softball.

It's just of all these
different angles of me,

like, playing
softball, you know,

like some of my teammates

and my coaches
and stuff, you know?

I mean, nobody else's parents
ever did something like that.

So I think to me,

it felt a little weird
because it was just like...

- I felt eccentric.
- It felt extra.

It did.

I guess like producing
films is like his thing.

- So maybe that's
just... - It's his hobby.

His way of like, yeah,
of just being supportive.

My mom's parenting changed
when she met Russell...

from being this strict
Christian woman

going to church every Sunday

to this partying, carefree
person I had never met before.

It was almost awesome in a way,

because I felt, wow,
like our mom's our friend.

She encouraged us to
drink alcohol, smoke weed,

allowed us to have
parties at their house.

I'm talking like multiple
bottles of hard liquor.

I'm 15. She's what, 12, 13?

When you're a teenager,
you want to have a good time.

You want to feel like an adult.

It seemed great on paper...

But in all reality...

It was the complete opposite.

I was at a crossroads.

I had evidence of Jared saying

what he wanted to
do sexually to children.

It was too much
for me to deal with on my own.

I was going straight to the FBI.

Upon arriving at the FBI
office in Sarasota, Florida,

I was introduced
to Agent Billings.

And I shared all the details.

And the recordings.

After only about a minute,

she said, "Is this
who I think this is?"

She gathered some
of the materials,

walked out of the room...

and then three
agents came back in.

They were not only shocked,

they couldn't believe someone of
his stature would say these things.

They agreed he needed
to be investigated.

But there was a problem.

What I did could, in
fact, be seen as a crime.

Legally, you are supposed to get

prior consent from someone
before recording them.

The tapes would
not hold up in court.

It was their belief

that I had broken the law.

I could face possible
felony charges.

The only thing that would
save me was to work with them.

They wanted me to continue
doing exactly what I was doing.

Talking with Jared
and recording him.

The only difference was
that for legality purposes,

I was shown what to say in the
start and end of all the recordings.

Everything had a protocol.

They gave me no choice.

I had to become an
undercover asset for the FBI.

Why do you
think the FBI needed you?

The FBI needed me

because I was already in.

They said, "You are
already talking to him.

You were able to
get this evidence.

We want you to continue
doing what you're doing."

It was very scary because it
made what I discovered real.

I think undercover work is probably one
of the most important investigative tools

that law enforcement has.

I'm Bob Hamer. I spent
26 years in the FBI.

Many of those years were
in an undercover capacity.

Investigating sex crimes.

When you're undercover,
you are right there,

one-on-one with the
target of your investigation.

You have them making
criminal admissions.

And that's much more valuable
than circumstantial evidence.

The calls, they
became more and more revealing,

Jared eventually started
sharing with me in great detail

what he would do with children.

When Jared boasted
about having sex with minors,

it was beyond disturbing.

Monster is too kind of a word.

When Jared
would say these things,

how do you know that
this wasn't fantasy?

What Jared did was not fantasy.

What he said, what
he confessed to,

what he shared,
what he wanted to do.

That was real.

Having that desire, that attraction
to children is not a crime per se.

It becomes a crime when
you act out upon that attraction.

The FBI wanted
evidence of names,

places,

where he was going.

But specifically,

they wanted to find the victims.

I had to play a role.

I pretended to be
someone who I was not,

who I hated.

So that he would open up to me

and I could get on tape
what I needed for the FBI.

When I would acquire information

through conversations
with Jared,

I had to meet with the
agents and make the drop.

We met in an
abandoned parking lot.

In the middle of the night.

And it was very eerie.

I look across the
parking lot in front of me

and on the other side, these
headlights, slowly blinking.

You do a handoff.

And then they're gone.

And then you're alone.

The reason for the
covert nature of these exchanges

is to protect the witness.

You don't want the witness being
seen with a law enforcement agent.

In my undercover capacity, I
would meet with my case agent

in the back of buildings, in
parking lots, in grocery stores

to make sure that I
wasn't being followed,

that he wasn't being followed

and that there was no one that
could observe the two of us meeting.

Should Jared ever find out

that I was recording him,

and capturing incriminating
evidence against him,

what would he do
to protect himself?

What lengths would he go?

I was in deep.

I was scared.

I was frightened.

We knew Russell worked
for somebody to do with Subway

because it was
Subway everything.

It was Subway bags,
Subway T-shirts.

I think he even
had Subway shoes.

So when we asked,
he finally said,

"The guy I work
for is Jared Fogle,

you know, the guy who lost
all the weight on Subway."

And to us, that was really cool.

It was his life,

whether that was texting Jared

or on the phone with
Jared, or emailing Jared.

It was just always about Subway.

He traveled a lot with Jared.

They went to Vegas a few times.

They went to
Vegas. They went to Thailand.

Russell having this
job impacted our life.

We got to travel more.

We went on vacation.

We got to really have
experiences in life.

We didn't really
have that growing up.

It was fun, though. I had fun.

The first time
I met Jared in person

was when we went
to dinner with him.

It was pretty nerve-wracking

because, you know,
he's just famous.

You know, a lot of
people know him.

He's got a lot of money.

Definitely a VIP.

He seemed very shy and,
you know, kind of reserved.

Like, he just had this
very careful personality.

No, he talked, but he
wasn't very outgoing.

He was more of a
listener. More of a watcher.

I would describe Russell
and Jared's dynamic

as Jared's the producer,

Russell is the director,
making a movie.

Jared was the money.

Russell did the job.

I think when Jared
became more involved in our lives,

it was almost like we
had more to talk about.

We had more to kind
of show off to our friends.

We felt cool.

You're like, "Oh, I know
all these famous people.

My stepfather knows Jared
Fogle and he's like our uncle.

He's like family. He
comes to family events.

We go to his house."

It just was very
glamorous. Very glamorous.

Without Jared,

Russell wouldn't have
that house on Salem Creek.

He wouldn't have the job or
the opportunities that he had.

I definitely would say Jared
had a hold over all of us.

Jared would
call most often late at night.

I would struggle
with getting any sleep at all

because as soon as these
recordings were made,

I had to make the drop.

It could be as often as
once or twice a night.

It was very difficult
on my family

because there was
just too much going on.

Mommy wasn't there as
often as I should have been.

The investigation,

it put a strain on
our relationship.

Her heading out all the time.

And when she is home, being
secretive and hiding in a room,

all she told me was that she was
working with the FBI to catch a bad man.

But I had no idea
who the bad man was.

I did try asking her
numerous times.

Who I'm supposed to be
afraid of? Who's after us?

What did they do?

What are they going to do?

But she never gave me an answer.

You cannot tell
the children the full story.

First of all, it was top secret.

And you can't risk compromising
an investigation such as that

because you put
hundreds of children at risk.

Plus, it's a nightmare.

Children are not equipped to
understand something like that.

So you have to piecemeal
what you share with them.

I'm not sure if she
thought she was protecting me,

but not giving me someone
to, you know, be afraid of,

it's just makes me, like,
want to be afraid of everyone.

Every stranger is a
dangerous person.

I was home alone with my
sister, pretty much all the time.

It was just very scary.

Thinking there's
someone after you

someone that's targeting you,

that can do a lot
to someone's head.

My sister, she
became pretty unstable

and she'd have like, outbursts

and just wasn't behaving
like her usual self.

She became quite angry, anxious.

If there was someone at
the door that we didn't know,

she, like, really freaked out.

She just wasn't as happy
and outgoing as she used to be.

Conversations with
Jared just got darker and darker.

Just the darkest things
that you could even imagine.

There's this one phone call

about his trip to Thailand
that still lives with me today.

When I heard what
Jared was telling me,

my soul was blackened.

He would
frequently see this young boy.

I believe he was around
10 or 11 years old.

He was very descriptive.

And Jared wasn't
just abusing children in Thailand,

he was doing it here
in the United States.

This was his playground.

As soon as we hung up the phone,

I would just start throwing up.

I never want to go
through that again.

I just need a minute.

Sorry.

I felt as though I had given

what I thought was
rock-solid information

to the FBI numerous times
over the course of years.

I couldn't understand
what the holdup was.

The reason he wasn't charged,

at that point, was
there was no overt act.

When he talked about traveling
to have sex with children.

There's no proof that
he actually did that.

I had this friend that Russell
was very adamant about Jared meeting.

She would have
been 15 at the time.

So me and my friend, we
went to dinner with Jared.

On the way up there,

of course, Russell
was hyping Jared up

and, you know,
making it seem like

this was going to be a big deal.

We got there and it
was just very casual.

Jared really didn't
open up too much.

He was very selective
about the things

he would say and the
moves he would make.

It wasn't as exciting as
Russell had made it out to be.

After that dinner, you know,

I started hearing more
about Jared's interest in her.

Jared would send
Russell text messages.

You know, he would make
comments about her breasts,

about her looks, and
having sex with our friend.

You thought
it was weird at the time?

I just looked at it as...

they're just perverted.

You know, you
have that pervy uncle

like you're like, "Oh, I got
a pervy uncle, you know?"

But it was more than that.

I had mentioned
Jared's comments to my friend.

She was very
taken aback by that.

She got very
uncomfortable very quickly

and she kind of
questioned me about it.

You know, and was, "Why is he
saying these things about me?"

I instantly felt awkward
and uncomfortable

because it was
like in that moment

that I kind of
started to realize

that maybe something
isn't right here.

Listening to
what Jared had to say

really started to
take a toll on me.

I'm feeling very stressed,

more stressed than
I've ever been in my life.

Three years playing
my part with Jared,

and regardless of how much
information I was able to collect,

he wasn't being stopped.

I'm just really trying
to reach out to kids in this trip.

And now I essentially travel
the world and just share my story.

See that?

He would be a
motivational speaker at the schools.

He would go on tour.

Give it up for
Jared from Subway.

He would be a
special guest at sporting events.

But you know what, Jared?

I'm not a fan of yours.

Jared used his
position as a celebrity

to gain the trust of children.

The FBI and I knew
who he really was

and what his true desires were.

But the public had no idea.

I feel like I can do anything.

It affected
my health tremendously.

It was interfering with
my ability to make a living.

And then something happened

that ripped my
whole family apart.

I kept a diary.

Within those pages were times
I spoke with Jared on the phone

documenting each phone call.

One evening, I arrived home...

there was something
that was amiss

and I couldn't
put my finger on it.

Someone had been in my office.

There was a disarray
of torn papers.

This was one of my journals.

I just started
becoming very anxious

because my children were the
only ones in the house, besides me.

Come to find out,
it was my daughter.

There were things in that diary

that no child should ever
read, especially your own child.

She was frightened.
She didn't understand.

It changed her.

It changed her way of
thinking about me as her mom.

The relationship
with my daughter,

because of this investigation,

crumbled almost beyond repair.

She had a lot of anger and she
felt as though I abandoned her.

I needed to stop.

I needed to remove
myself from this situation

because I needed
to protect my children.

So together with the FBI,
we came up with an endgame

where we hoped to
catch Jared in the act.

We would lure Jared
here to Sarasota

for a children's party
that I was setting up.

It was, in effect, a fake
birthday party for my son.

It was a sting operation.

The purpose of the sting

wasn't really to
have a birthday party.

Should he suspect
this is an FBI sting,

who knows what he
would do to the children?

The purpose was to prove

that he was willing
to cross state lines

to engage in sex with a
person under 18 years of age.

The travel proves the intent.

But Jared
needed to take the bait.

Jared became quite interested.

He wanted me to invite all
their friends and their siblings.

Jared was very excited

and was rattling off ideas

on how to prepare the kids.

And he was, at this point,
teaching me how to groom children.

Jared had a very
specific strategy

when it came to children.

Who to select, who
was the most vulnerable.

Jared would ask
about my children's friends

and then their
siblings, their ages.

Do I catch anyone looking at me?

What do I see?

During a specific phone call,

he said something so shocking,

it just repulsed me to the core.

The content is
hard to listen to.

When Jared mentioned my kids...

was...

like a shot to the heart.

They were in his crosshairs.

They were in his
mind, in his thoughts.

Repugnant.

He made me feel...

so much hatred towards him.

Well, now, Jared, you are traveling
around the country talking to kids.

So we can just get to them and
continue to get to them at an early age.

And I speak to children
all over the country

and actually all
over the world now.

We love you, Jared!

He changed my life.

Jared Fogle.

In my undercover capacity,

I would never involve my family.

In her situation, it
was much different

because he had already known

that she had children

before she actually
conducted her investigation.

So these were real children,
not imaginary children.

So that made it
much more difficult.

I just wanted
to run and never turn back.

But I had to hold it together.

The sting was
supposed to be a way

we would finally be able
to get Jared off the streets.

But last minute...

Jared's schedule changed.

So instead of a week out...

he would be there within
the next two to three days.

So I contacted the FBI

and they could not ramp up

and be ready in 48 to 72 hours.

I begged him, "Jared,
please come on Friday.

That's the only time."

And he just couldn't do it.

The party never
came to fruition.

How did that
make you feel at that point?

I was very frustrated.

This was that chance. We had it.

It was at our fingertips and...

Then it was gone.

Even as a
professional undercover agent,

it's disappointing
when it doesn't happen.

She has poured her
life into this investigation.

She is emotionally attached

because of her
children's involvement.

So when this
didn't come through,

it would have been
emotionally devastating.

The investigation definitely
had an effect on her.

She became more withdrawn.

She slowly became
less of a bubbly person.

I was worried about my kids

throughout the
entire investigation.

But now I was...

worried beyond measure.

They were in his line of sight.

As time went on,
I became terrified by Jared,

by what he was capable of.

So I thought to myself,

"What would Jared do?"

Jared had the money,

the position,

powerful players
that supported him.

That frightened me.

If he ever found
out what I was doing,

what would he do?

When did you start
to notice a change in Rochelle?

I was on the
air doing my own show.

Rochelle came in one night

and she had like,
an overcoat on.

She had no makeup on.

Her hair was all disheveled,
which was totally flustered

and totally out of
character for her.

She wasn't bubbly Rochelle.

She said, "I'm gonna
tell you something,

but you cannot tell anyone."

And look in her eyes
was terror almost.

"Jared from Subway wants to
see pictures of my kids naked.

And if I don't, he's
going to k*ll me."

My first thought was,
"She's got a screw loose."

And that's when she hit me

with "There's black
vans following us."

It's just classic schizophrenia.

"There's vans following me.

They're after me,
they're after me."

I thought it was so farfetched,

so out of the ordinary.

I said, either she's crazy

or she's telling the truth.

As much as I
tried to keep it all together,

I was pulled apart.

The emotional turmoil
that it took on me.

I had breakdowns.

I had no one... to talk to.

Sorry.

My life was spiraling
out of control...

and he was still out there.

Police dogs...

I won't forget that day

that Russell got arrested.

That is the day my
life turned upside down.

Russell Taylor, the former
executive director of the Jared Foundation,

was arrested, accused of
possessing and producing child porn.

Russell Taylor is
accused of recruiting underage girls

without their knowledge
to produce porn.

I was in high school...

and I see on my phone, I
had a call from my mom.

That was weird.

I don't usually ever get
calls from her during school.

So I called her back.

"Hey, Mom. I hadn't
seen your call."

She said, "I can't
talk right now."

"Why are you whispering?"

She said, "Russell's
been arrested."

"What do you mean,
he's been arrested?"

She said, "I can't
talk about it right now.

Just look it up
on the internet."

I just put Russell
Taylor, Indianapolis.

And first thing that pops up big

was Russell Taylor,
pedophilia, child p*rn*graphy.

It said, "possession
of child p*rn*graphy."

I didn't really know
what that meant.

So I'm thinking, okay, like,

"Did he have like some kind of
picture or video or something of, like,

a little kid that maybe
he shouldn't have"?

But it was even worse.

A search
of Taylor's home in April

revealed more than 500
explicit images of children.

That's when we realized

the people you think
are the closest to you

are actually the most dangerous.

Because what we found out was...

pure nightmare.