A police dog trained to sniff out electronics helped find a key piece of evidence in the Jared Fogle child pornography investigation, prosecutors said.
“When somebody first told me there was a dog that could find storage media, I laughed. I didn’t believe them,” said Steven Debrota, the assistant district attorney in the case.
But Bear, a two-year-old black Labrador retriever, recovered a USB thumb drive hidden in the former Subway pitchman’s home that human investigators had missed when they searched the property in July. The device, officials said, contained information crucial to the investigation and, ultimately, Fogle’s guilty plea.
Since then, Bear and his rare abilities are gaining popularity online.
“I had no idea until the morning of what house we were actually going to,” said Todd Jordan, Bear’s trainer. “People know about the dog now and want more information about it.”
Bear is one of only four dogs in the U.S. trained to sniff out data storage devices such as USB drives and hard drives.
Much like dogs trained to recover drugs and other illegal substances, Bear sits down whenever he smells something that might be of interest to investigators and points in the direction the scent is coming from with his nose—all in exchange for a treat, of course.
Jordan and Bear have helped the Indiana Crimes Against Children Task force in five other investigations. In each case, the dog has been an invaluable tool, Jordan said.
“That dog has found things that very diligent investigators could not find because they were so small and hidden in so many places,” Debrota said.
Fogle, also known as “the Subway guy,” became known for his role in the sandwich chain’s advertising campaigns over more than a decade. On Wednesday, Fogle pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography charges as well as having sex with underage girls.
With his job in the investigation done, Bear left for Seattle, Wash., on Friday to help with another case.
With a report from CTV’s Los Angeles Bureau Chief Tom Walters
