Hidden camera victim sues Jared Fogle, Russell Taylor

An underage Connersville girl who was secretly filmed changing clothes and bathing by hidden cameras set up by Russell Taylor — who shared those images with Jared Fogle — has filed a federal lawsuit seeking at least $300,000, from Fogle and Taylor.

The suit claims the girl was among several children who would visit and stay with Taylor and his wife, Angela, at the couple's homes in Indianapolis.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana does not name the victim. She is described only as Jane Doe, a minor who lived in Connersville when the videos were made between March 2011 and January 2015.

Angela Taylor, who has not been charged in the federal child pornography case that sent her husband and his former boss to federal prison, formerly lived in Connersville and has family in the Fayette County community.

Court testimony at Russell Taylor's sentencing revealed the footage he secretly filmed with cameras hidden in clock radios and placed in bathrooms and bedrooms included the children's family members and their friends.

The lawsuit says the Taylors assumed responsibility for the minor children in their home and failed in their duty to protect those children, in part because they knew the children were being recorded while nude, and that those images were being shared. The suit also says Fogle knew about the hidden cameras and failed to take any action to protect the children.

Russell Taylor was sentenced in December to 27 years in prison.  Fogle was sentenced in November to more than 15 years in prison for his role in the case, which drew international attention.

It was not clear from the lawsuit whether the victim was among the 14 minors Fogle paid $100,000 each as part of his plea deal. The money was intended to help with counseling and other needs created by the trauma of being child pornography victims.

"It is accurate that on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, we filed a complaint for damages against Jared Fogle, Russell Taylor and Angela Taylor in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, for the significant emotional trauma our client has suffered," the woman's attorney, M. Michael Stephenson, said in a statement.

"We are confident in Indiana’s legal system and fully intend to allow the legal process to play out in this case. Because of the sensitive nature of the subject matter, we are concerned that our client is not further traumatized; therefore, in an effort to respect our client’s privacy, we will not be making any further comments or statements on this matter at this time."

The lawsuit says Fogle and the Taylors "had knowledge of the presence of hidden cameras throughout the Taylor residence and knowledge that said hidden cameras were being used with the intent that they would capture various minors changing clothes, showering, bathing or engaging in other personal and private activities."

Taylor, according to the lawsuit, distributed "sexually explicit images of Jane Doe and videos of Jane Doe and other minor children to Jared Fogle."

The lawsuit also says Angela Taylor "knew or reasonably should have known" about the hidden cameras and failed to help provide a safe environment for the children.

Only one of Taylor's victims has spoken publicly about the case — a then-16-year-old girl who appeared on the "Dr. Phil" show in November.

The woman, who was identified only as "Analissa," said she was friends with Taylor's stepdaughter and that Taylor bought her beer and vodka when she was 14. She also said he made inappropriate sexual comments and appeared to be grooming her to have sex with him after she turned 16.

At the time she was visiting the Taylors' home, the girl said, she did not know she was being photographed or filmed while changing clothes and in the shower. After she learned that, she said, her life was turned upside down.

“He took my happiness; he took my trust; he took my pride, everything. I feel so low. I feel like nothing,” she said of Taylor during the televised interview.

There is no indication in the lawsuit whether that young woman is the Jane Doe now suing Fogle and the Taylors.

Another Jane Doe

It was another "Jane Doe" — this one an adult woman from Indianapolis — who set in motion the criminal probe that ensnared Fogle and Taylor.

The Indianapolis woman knew Taylor and his wife through Jane Doe's husband, who died in 2013.

That friendship took a disturbing turn in 2014, according to court documents. Communications with the woman from Taylor and his wife, often via text messaging, went from friendly and flirtatious to over the line when Russell Taylor offered to send Jane Doe images of child pornography.

The woman contacted a State Police officer, and her report was passed on to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Cybercrime Unit detective. Investigators from several law enforcement agencies participated in the probe, which ramped up after an interview with Jane Doe in early October 2014. The woman told police she had not deleted Taylor's messages that "concerned her" and provided them access to her cellphone.

The series of text messages included an offer by Taylor to provide her with images of various illegal pornographic acts, including of young girls. She declined. In one of those text messages, according to an affidavit, "Russell Taylor asked her if he and another adult female she identified could come to Jane Doe's residence and engage in" an act of bestiality. The woman did not agree to that request, but she told investigators, "You could tell (Taylor) was serious." She also told investigators that "she received an image file via text from Russell Taylor that depicted (another act of bestiality)."

It was during a search of Taylor's home in Wayne Township that investigators found videos Taylor had secretly recorded of the other, underage Jane Doe — along with other girls ages 11 to 16 in a bathroom. Another video depicted a young boy in the bathroom, also nude.  Police found other videos of some of the same children nude in a bedroom.

Document details Jared Fogle's prison beating

Call IndyStar reporter Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204. Follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim.