Fogle makes that argument in a Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, filing in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
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The filing argues that the parents of the girl – who unknowingly appeared in some of the child pornography that led to Fogle’s criminal conviction a year ago – are to blame for what it describes as her “destructive behaviors”.
More than a year after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography and traveling to have sex with minors, Jared Fogle is back in court. He is now suing one of his victim’s parents and blaming them for her “destructive behaviors”, The Independent reports.
Fogle’s victim-blaming comes after the victim’s parents filed a lawsuit against Fogle and his former head of charity, Russell Taylor, whose April 2015 arrest on child exploitation, possession of child pornography and voyeurism charges led authorities to discover Fogle’s collection child pornography. Her case seeks monetary damages for personal injuries and mental anguish.
It was last year that Fogle was sentenced to 15 and eight months in federal prison, with a minimum of 13 years with no possibility of parole.
The girl’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours inquiry from The Associated Press seeking comment on the latest filing.
Fogle, now detained at a federal prison in Colorado, has lodged court documents blaming the girl’s parents for a cycle of despair, self-harm and drink and drug abuse which she says was the result of his abuse.
Fogle’s filing alleges the parents fought and abused alcohol in front of her. Fogle has paid restitution to 14 victims, but they can still sue him for additional money. It was not immediately clear who was representing the victim’s parents.
Most of the roughly 500 videos involved in the case were recorded by the man hired by Fogle to run the Jared Foundation, which described itself as a “child outreach” organization dedicated to the welfare of children struggling with obesity. According to Jane Doe’s complaint, Taylor installed hidden cameras to secretly film minors changing their clothes and bathing inside his home. Fogle alleges Jane Doe’s parents, who went through a nasty divorce, neglected and abused their daughter. The pornography was produced over a four-year period.
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Fogle is serving a almost 16-year prison sentence and was ordered to pay each of his victims $100,000. The parents “maintained a hateful and abusive relationship toward each other”, according to the complaint, which was reported by multiple news outlets, including the Washington Post and the IndyStar.com.
