Subway is beginning to feel some blow back from the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding former pitchman Jared Fogle. Many are beginning to question at which point the sandwich chain knew about any misconduct involving Fogle and if they did, why nothing was done at the time. The issues stem from an alleged complaint sent by Rochelle Herman-Walrond, who spoke with Inside Edition and CNN earlier this week about her encounter with Fogle. According to Gawker, Herman-Walrond claims she sent a complaint to Subway and that it did go through, but was never addressed by the company:
“I told them how Jared had approached my children—that I met him during my radio show program—and that he had approached my children and had made sexual comments about wanting to do things with my children and their friends,” Herman-Walrond said. “I never got a ‘Thank you for emailing’ or anything like that, but I sent it and it did go through.”
If true, this would put the knowledge in Subway’s hands back in 2009. Subway responded to these claims in an email to The Huffington Post on Friday Night, claiming they had no knowledge of a complaint and were still looking through their records:
“When we first heard about an alleged complaint being made to the company about Jared Fogle, we immediately investigated and found no record that this was ever brought to our attention,” a Subway spokeswoman told The Huffington Post in an email. “When we heard about the possibility of a second complainant, we began an investigation that is ongoing.”
Fogle pleaded guilty for several allegations, including that he paid for sex with a minor and had possession of child pornography. As we’ve covered, Fogle will see at least 5 years in prison and will pay the 14 victims of his crimes a total of $1.4 million. Subway no longer has a relationship with Fogle and it remains to be seen if this will be the last we hear of any prior knowledge.
(Via Huffington Post / The Hollywood Reporter / Gawker)