Jared Fogle: I Didn’t Victimize One Of My Victims, Her Parents Did (WITH VIDEO)

It’s been amply established that former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle is a perverted sleazeball. Last year, in the face of overwhelming evidence that he’d used his celebrity status to victimize dozens of kids, he pleaded guilty to being a serial child pornographer and child exploiter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, based on the tone of a number of secret recordings made by the woman who unmasked him, it was obvious that he was only sorry for getting caught.

If anyone doubted this, that doubt should have been erased on Thursday. The parents of one of Fogle’s victims are suing Fogle and the head of his foundation for secretly videotaping their daughter. Fogle’s response? He claims that he didn’t victimize the girl. Rather, her parents did.

In March, the victim’s parents sued Fogle and former Jared Foundation director Russell Taylor on behalf of their daughter, “Jane Doe,” for invasion of privacy, infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. Four months earlier, Taylor had been sentenced to 27 years in prison for secretly recording children while changing their clothes, showering, bathing, or other activities while they were in the nude. The girl frequently traveled from her home in Connersville, Indiana to Taylor’s home in Indianapolis, where Taylor and his wife, Angela, babysat her. She was one of many kids who were recorded with cameras hidden in clock radios several times over a four-year period.

The parents contend that by planting those cameras, Taylor and his wife, Angela, completely failed in their duty to protect Jane Doe and the other children who visited their home. They also contend that Fogle knew about the hidden cameras and did absolutely nothing to stop the Taylors. As a result of Fogle and Russell Taylor’s “extreme, outrageous, and reckless conduct” and Angela Taylor allowing them to victimize Jane Doe, the Does say that their daughter has suffered “severe emotional distress,” “mental anguish,” and “severe, traumatic, and permanent injuries.” Among other things, they say that their daughter had suicidal thoughts once she learned she’d been victimized by Fogle. They want the Taylors and Fogle to cough up $450,000 in actual damages.

On Thursday, Fogle responded in quite possibly the worst way possible. He contended that Jane Doe’s now-divorced parents are responsible for any emotional distress their daughter suffered because they “maintained a hateful and abusive relationship with each other”–including often-physical arguments and alcohol abuse. Fogle claims that it was this behavior, not anything he did, that caused the girl’s emotional problems. He also argues that these problems spiraled into “alcohol abuse, substance abuse, self-mutilation, and suicidal ideation,” among other destructive behaviors.

To pile obscenity on top of insult and injury, Fogle wants to file a formal complaint against the parents and hold them liable for the injuries they supposedly inflicted on their daughter. He claims to have “documented evidence” that the parents bear much of the responsibility for their daughter’s ordeal.

When the Young Turks gang saw this, they reacted in their usual style. Watch here.

Ana Kasperian came to the same conclusion that I did–this lawsuit is a fool’s errand. To be sure, this would be outrageously despicable even if Fogle had gone for broke and risked 50 years or more in prison rather than plead guilty. But Fogle lost any moral authority to point the finger at anyone else when he entered his guilty plea in November.

The only reason this move makes any sense at all is that Fogle wants to stop the bleeding. He’s already had to pay $100,000 each to 14 of his victims, in addition to a $175,000 fine and forfeiture of $50,000 in assets. Considering that he would have almost certainly died in prison if convicted at trial, Fogle really doesn’t know how lucky he got. Moreover, is he willing to risk blowing any chance of having a relationship with his kids once he gets out? It sure sounds like it.

Fogle is currently serving his sentence at a federal prison south of Denver that has a counseling program for sex offenders. Judging by this outrageous filing, it’s clear those lessons aren’t taking. All he’s doing is prolonging Jane Doe’s agony. If he has anything in him, he will withdraw this outrageous motion. Now. If he keeps this up, all he will do is victimize Jane Doe all over again.

(featured image courtesy Anna Hanks, available under a Creative Commons-Attribution license)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.