Former Subway star and convicted sex offender Jared Fogle asked for a shortened prison term Friday, months after a judge sentenced the child porn-collecting pitchman to more than 15 years behind bars — three years longer than prosecutors’ requested punishment. 
 
 Fogle's attorney argued that the District Court judge in Indianapolis abused her authority by giving Fogle the heftier sentence in November. Under his plea deal prosecutors agreed to request a maximum 12 ½-year sentence while Fogle agreed not to seek a sentence of less than five years in prison. 
 
 But U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt elected to go beyond the prosecution's recommendation, sentencing Fogle to 15 years and eight months. She could have sentenced him to up to 50 years in prison. 
 
 JARED FOGLE SAID 'MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS ARE HOT': REPORT 
 
 The Friday appeal called that decision “unreasonable,” and asked the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to throw out the prison term and order resentencing. 
 
 “The District Court's ruling also undermines the notions of trust and fairness that undergird our delicate system of plea bargaining,” Fogle's appeal said. 
 
 The sub chain cut all ties with Fogle last year. (Jeff Roberson/AP) 
 
 The fast food icon’s downfall started when federal officials raided his suburban Indianapolis home in July and seized several computers and DVDs from the married dad. 
 
 Investigators arrived with a warrant after the former head of Fogle’s childhood obesity charity was arrested earlier this year on similar child porn charges. 
 
 Fogle later admitted he paid for sex at New York City hotels with girls who were 16 or 17 years old and that he had received some child pornography produced by the one-time head of his anti-obesity charity, Russell Taylor. Fogle also paid a total of $1.4 million to his 14 victims, with each getting $100,000. 
 
 Taylor was sentenced in December to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to 12 counts of child exploitation and one count of distributing child pornography. Prosecutors say Taylor used hidden cameras in his Indianapolis-area homes to secretly film 12 minors who were nude, changing clothes, or engaged in other activities. 
 
 Defense attorney Ronald Elberger argues that in determining Fogle's 188-month sentence the judge wrongly considered allegations for which he didn't face criminal charges, including discussions he had with others about possible sexual contact with other minors and collecting pornography of children as young as 6 years old. 
 
 Subway restaurant spokesman Jared Fogle walks to a waiting car as he leaves his home in July as FBI agents and Indiana State Police raid his Indiana home. (Michael Conroy/AP) 
 
 The appeal maintains that the child pornography was on a thumb drive that Fogle received from Taylor and viewed, "but that does not amount to a contention that Fogle actively sought, collected and distributed images of 6-year-olds." 
 
 "Fogle acknowledges that he has committed inexcusable acts for which he takes full responsibility and is genuinely remorseful," the appeal said. Prosecutors "knew everything the District Court knew and still agreed to a below-guidelines sentence that adequately reflected the severity of the crimes to which Fogle pleaded." 
 
 Fogle, a weight-loss sensation on the Indiana University campus, debuted in his first commercial for Subway in 2000 after the sandwich chain caught wind of the student’s transformation. Once weighing a whopping 425 pounds with a 60-inch waist, Fogle dropped 245 pounds on a do-it-yourself diet of nothing but turkey and vegetable subs from the campus Subway. 
 
 “The Subway Guy” became a national sensation, and Fogle appeared two years ago in a Super Bowl ad marking the 15-year anniversary of his diet program. 
 
 Subway cut all ties with its former pitchman amid the investigation last year. 
 
 With News Wire Services ||||| New court filing in Jared Fogle case details prosecutor's sentence request. 
 
 Buy Photo Jared Fogle, a former pitchman for Subway, is escorted to a car by police after pleading guilty on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 to charges of child pornography and having sex with minors, according to court documents released by U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Indiana. (Photo: Matt Detrich / The Star)Buy Photo 
 
 A court filing by prosecutors in advance of Jared Fogle's sentencing next Thursday tells the judge she should hand down a stiff sentence to send a message to others involved in child exploitation. 
 
 Fogle, a former Subway pitchman, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts: possession of child pornography and traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor. 
 
 The prosecutor is asking U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt to sentence Fogle to 12½ years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised probation. 
 
 That was the maximum sentence the U.S. attorney had agreed to seek in a plea bargain struck with Fogle in August. Fogle faced a maximum sentence on the two federal felony charges of 50 years. The judge has discretion to sentence Fogle to more or less than what the prosecution has requested. 
 
 "Persons with a sexual attraction to young children may be difficult to deter, but these sentences matter," said the prosecutor's pre-sentencing memorandum filed Thursday. "These offenders frequently communicate with each other online, and they are concerned about the law enforcement efforts. 
 
 "In many ways, the results of these cases help to deter and teach by example. There is no avoiding the point that, whatever the result in this matter, it will be closely watched by current and potential offenders who have not yet been identified." 
 
 The document said Fogle "repeatedly expressed sexual fantasies concerning children to multiple persons," but despite exhaustive investigation, "no victims under the age of 18 years could be specifically identified" other than the two victims already charged in this case. 
 
 Prosecutors have identified 14 victims, including a dozen who were secretly photographed by Russell Taylor, former head of Fogle's charitable foundation. 
 
 Prosecutors said in Thursday's filing in the Fogle case that by striking a plea deal and avoiding a trial they hoped to prevent more trauma to the victims in a case that has already caused "substantial anguish." 
 
 "A public trial would only have made this process of healing even more protracted and difficult, without changing the outcome," the filing said. 
 
 Among the new information in the court filing: 
 
 Fogle paid for sex from adults "on hundreds of occasions." 
 
 Some of the commercial child pornography he had, which prosecutors believe was produced in Eastern Europe, included actual or simulated sexual intercourse by children as young as 6. 
 
 Taylor gave minors drugs, alcohol and money to induce them into sex acts. Two of the minors were 14. 
 
 Taylor has also agreed to plead guilty to child-porn charges and will be sentenced Dec. 10. Prosecutors agreed not to seek a sentence of more than 35 years in prison. Taylor agreed not to ask for less than 15 years in prison. 
 
 The new court filing in Fogle's case said he rationalized his viewing of child porn made by Taylor. Because Taylor was going to secretly produce the material anyway, "he might as well benefit from the production by seeing the results, which interested him." 
 
 Prosecutors noted that Fogle had a "good childhood" and that his wife, who has filed for divorce, "had no idea he was doing any of these things." 
 
 "Fogle has sacrificed absolutely everything he had built — including his family — to engage in sexually explicit conduct with two minors," prosecutors wrote. "He emboldened a molester and a producer of child pornography. He allowed Taylor to produce child pornography because of his own sexual attractions. He did this even he actually knew some of the children in Taylor's recordings." 
 
 Call Star reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia. 
 
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– Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle wants his child pornography sentence reduced, claiming that the judge who sentenced him was, in part, punishing him for his fantasies, TMZ reports. According to the New York Daily News, Fogle's plea deal called for a maximum sentence of 12.5 years; the judge ended up giving him more than 15. His lawyers claim that longer sentence was partly based on fantasies Fogle had but never acted on. As evidence, they quote the judge: "This defendant is obsessed with child pornography and having sex with minors. He fantasized about it in telephone conversations." Fogle filed an appeal for a new sentencing on Friday. His appeal calls his current sentence "unreasonable" and says the judge "abused her authority." Fogle admitted to paying for sex with girls who were 16 and 17, as well as receiving child pornography made by the head of his charity. But he also talked about more sexual contact with minors and getting pornography featuring children as young as 6. Fogle's lawyers argue it's those conversations about things he was never charged with that led to the longer sentence. Fogle's sentence is still much shorter that the 50 years the judge could have legally given him.