Jared’s child porn guilty plea: How did we get here?

Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of child pornography and traveling for illicit paid sex with minors.

According to the indictment, Fogle went to New York City seeking to have sex with minors at least twice between 2010 and 2013, and paid for sex acts twice with a girl he knew to be a minor. He told the 17-year-old girl he would “make it worth her while” if she could find him another minor to have sex with, “the younger the girl, the better.”

Prosecutors also said he asked prostitutes and others on multiple occasions to find him 14- and 15-year-olds to have sex with.

Subway, which had previously suspended its relationship with Fogle, severed all ties with him on Tuesday after reports of the guilty plea surfaced.

The Chicago Tribune reported Fogle’s wife is seeking a divorce and is “solely focused on the wellbeing of her and her husband’s two children.”

Why does everyone care?

Fogle, known to most strangers as just “Jared,” made a name for himself when he said he lost 245 pounds by making Subway sandwiches the staple of his diet. Before weightloss challenges and TV shows, Jared was the public face of crazy weightloss.

Jared said he started his weight loss journey at 425 pounds, and by the time he had lost those 245 pounds he had caught the attention of his college newspaper, which ran a profile on him in 1999. Subway took notice and Jared was in Los Angeles shooting a commercial within a year.

Jared eventually came to be a household name, the face of a diet people who felt too busy or too overwhelmed could relate to. He helped carry the 2002 Olympic torch through Indiana on its way to Salt Lake City and flipped the coin before the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.

A 2013 study found that of 120 eateries’ brands, Subway’s was the most relatable to consumers, thanks to Jared.

How did we get here?

Russell Taylor, the executive director of Fogle’s charitable arm, the Jared Foundation, was arrested in April on child pornography and exploitation charges. He was charged in May with seven counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. At the time, Fogle told Fox 59 he was “shocked to learn of the disturbing allegations against Mr. Taylor” and said the foundation was severing ties with Taylor.

In July, investigators raided Fogle’s home, taking computers, media storage devices, DVDs and documents without saying what they were looking for. A Subway spokesman said at the time that the company believed the search had something to do with Taylor’s arrest two months prior.

Subway “suspended ties” with Fogle at the time of the raid. No charges had been filed at that point.

On Tuesday, it was announced Fogle would plead guilty to charges related to sex with minors and child pornography.

What happens next?

Federal judge Mark Dinsmore has to review the plea deal and decide whether to accept it. If the deal is accepted, Fogle will serve between five and 12 years in prison, pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 minor victims and register as a sex offender, among other conditions that have to be met.

Fogle was released from custody and has to wear an electronic monitoring device until at least his next court appearance.