Woman who recorded Jared Fogle discusses undercover operation on ‘Dr. Phil’

On Thursday, former radio journalist Rochelle Herman-Walrond appeared on the daytime talk show “Dr. Phil” to discuss how she recorded conversations with Jared Fogle in which he appears to speak freely about a desire to have sex with children of “all ages.”

Fogle has reached a plea deal in the case against him and will be sentenced next month.

Herman-Walrond recalled to host Phil McGraw her first meeting with Fogle in 2006. At the time, she was hosting a local radio program devoted to health issues and he was a well-known brand ambassador for Subway, having famously lost 200 pounds by dining on its sandwiches.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter >>

Herman-Walrond was shocked when Fogle made a remark about his attraction to middle-schoolers.

“This individual must want to get caught,” she said she remembered thinking. “I was sick to my stomach.”

Troubled by this admission, Herman-Walrond then followed what she called her “journalistic instinct” and befriended Fogle with the goal of finding out more about his apparent attraction to minors.

Herman-Walrond said she began to record their telephone conversations on a line specifically used for recording -- a fact Fogle seemed to be aware of.

“He would talk about what he would like to do to children, what he would like children to do to me,” she said. “It was very creepy and very scary.”

Eventually, she brought the evidence to the FBI, who enlisted her as an undercover operative, Herman-Walrond said. In the course of their conversations, Fogle asked which of her children’s friends she thought were “pretty hot” and “cute.” She mentioned several children, whose identities she had made up, including a fictive 7-year-old from “a broken home” that she said Fogle singled out as a “definite possibility.”

“I had to be two separate people in order to continue on with this investigation,” she said. “It’s something that has forever changed me.”

At one point, Fogle suggested flying to Thailand. “If we’re gonna try to get some young kids with us, it would be a lot easier,” he said in one of the recorded conversations.

The episode sparked an intense reaction on social media, with Twitter users uniformly expressing their disgust.

Part 2 of Herman-Walrond’s conversation with McGraw will air Friday.

Follow @MeredithBlake on Twitter.

ALSO:

Groups say #RacismIsntFunny, urge NBC to dump Trump as ‘SNL’ host

‘The Affair’ star Ruth Wilson is a risk-taker who’s ready to lighten up

Evander Holyfield looks to come to terms with Mike Tyson in new documentary