35-year sentence sought for former head of Jared Foundation

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Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence the former director of a foundation created by longtime Subway spokesman Jared Fogle to 35 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for providing homemade child pornography to his former boss.

A sentencing memorandum filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis and signed by U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler says Russell Taylor "repeatedly engaged in criminal activity targeting children" and that his actions "greatly impacted the lives of 12 children and their families."

Taylor is expected to plead guilty Dec. 10 to child exploitation and child pornography charges. He's admitted using hidden cameras to produce child pornography.

Taylor's attorney hasn't filed a sentencing request yet. Under a plea agreement reached in September, Taylor cannot ask for a sentence of less than 15 years in prison. The deadline for his attorney to file the memorandum is Friday.

In arguing for a 35-year sentence, prosecutors wrote that Taylor "has a long standing and persistent pattern of criminal activity involving both the production of child pornography and related sexual activity."

The memorandum from Minkler says Taylor denied victims' "their vital and personal right to grow up free from sexual exploitation and interference by adults." The document says Taylor secretly produced child pornography involving children in Indiana and "used it to fuel his sexual fantasies involving children."

Taylor will be sentenced by Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, who last month sentenced Fogle to 15 years and eight months in prison for trading in child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes. She gave Fogle a harsher sentence than the 12½ years that prosecutors had sought.

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