Marc’s Story

After growing up in Butler, Pennsylvania, the son of Cubby and Malphine Fogel and brother to Lisa and Anne, Marc Fogel graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and began a long adventure-filled career teaching the children of American diplomats around the world.  

He married Jane, also a teacher, and together they taught high schoolers in Colombia, Malaysia, Oman, Venezuela, and Russia and visited numerous other countries.  Their two sons, Ethan and Sam, rounded out the family of world travelers.  

Family Man & Teacher at Heart

For the past 9 years, Marc and Jane taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow.  Russia had been a positive experience for the Fogels.  Both Ethan and Sam attended high school there—at the same school where their parents taught.  Each had recently returned to the U.S. after graduation and were beginning the next chapter of their lives.

Marc and Jane decided that their upcoming 10th year in Moscow would be Marc's last.  He would retire after 36 years of teaching.  Marc suffered from physical ailments including severe back and associated knee, hip, and shoulder problems.  It was time to come home to Pittsburgh and be near Mafa and their sons.  

On August 14, 2021, as Marc and Jane returned to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport where they had entered and exited many times, Marc was pulled aside at security and was arrested for carrying just under an ounce of medical marijuana that he was using to treat his severe pain.  The U.S. State Department told his family to remain silent.  They did.  Days became weeks, weeks became months.  The Fogels continued to take their lead from the U.S. State Department who said they were doing everything they could to get Marc home.

On February 17, 2022,  31-year-old American professional woman’s basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport for carrying vape cartridges containing marijuana concentrate hashish oil in her luggage.  She was reentering Moscow to begin her eighth year playing for a Russian basketball team in her off-season from the WNBA.  Brittney’s arrest spurred mass American and worldwide attention including personal commitments from President Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to bring her home.

On May 3, 2022, Brittney Griner was designated as “wrongfully detained” by the U.S. State Department. Giving her official recognition by the United States government prioritized Brittney to be included in prisoner swaps and provided substantial American resources to Brittney and her family to advance her return.  Over the course of the next several months, until she was released, President Biden spoke of his personal interest in Brittney Griner’s case and of his regular communication with Brittney Griner’s wife and family. 

Marc Fogel’s family, stunned by the government’s substantially different treatment of Brittney Griner, began an outreach campaign shortly after Brittney’s detention received public attention and personal intervention by President Biden and Secretary Blinken.  The Fogel family sent letters and emails and made phone calls and pleas to the President and Secretary of State.  Their outreach was ignored.  The Fogels remained relegated to lower-level assistants and shuffled among staff—the same people who had told them from the beginning that remaining silent was in Marc’s best interests.  The family engaged the press.  They were overshadowed by Brittney.  

On June 17, 2022, Marc Fogel was convicted in a Russian court on drug charges and given a 14-year prison sentence. 

On August 4, 2022, Brittney Griner was convicted in a Russian court under the same exact statute as Marc Fogel and given a 9-year sentence.

On December 8, 2022, President Biden announced that the United States had conducted a prisoner exchange with Russia.  Brittney Griner was released for Viktor Bout, a Russian imprisoned in America.  President Biden held a press conference attended by Brittney Griner’s wife and family.  He called Brittney an “incomparable athlete, two-time Olympic Gold medalist for Team USA." President Biden said, “She represents the best of America—the best about America,” and that, “She didn’t ask for special treatment.”  

She did not.  But, the President gave it to her.  

The President also spoke of another Russian prisoner—American, Canadian, Ireland, and UK citizen, Paul Whelan—who was arrested in Russia on December 28, 2018, for espionage.  Paul was also recognized by America as wrongfully detained by the U.S. State Department.  President Biden said of Paul, “We are not giving up.  We will never give up.  We remain in close touch with Paul’s family…And my thoughts and prayers are with them today…we’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release.  I guarantee that.  I say that to the family:  I guarantee you.”

Marc Fogel was not mentioned.  President Biden sent them no prayers that day.  Neither Jane Fogel, high school teacher, and Marc’s wife, nor Marc’s now 95-year-old mother Malphine were mentioned.  No one in Marc’s family has ever been told by President Biden or Secretary Blinken that America stands with them.  They are not acknowledged.   

On March 29, 2023, Wall Street Journal reporter American Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on espionage charges.  President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken immediately spoke of the nation’s efforts to bring him home. On April 10, 2023, Evan Gershkovich is designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. State Department.  President Biden continues to speak of America’s commitment to bring Evan Gershovich home and has promised Evan’s parents to do “whatever it takes." 

Marc Fogel, an American high school teacher, remains off of America’s list of wrongfully detained prisoners.  To this day, Marc Fogel and the entire Fogel family of Pennsylvania and Montana have not been acknowledged by President Biden or the Biden Administration.

During Marc Fogel’s first year in the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, he was shuffled among numerous preliminary detention centers.  Since then, he has been imprisoned at Rybinsk penal colony which is about 200 miles or 4 hours north of Moscow.  In optimal environments, Marc’s severe and degenerative health conditions would be challenging.  In any prison system, he would be disadvantaged.  In a foreign, remote, frigid Russian penal colony where Marc does not speak the language and cannot understand what medical procedures are being administered, Marc’s deterioration has been dramatic.  He has experienced muscle atrophy, neuropathy, and frequent falls.  Despite several hospitalizations and treatments including injections and other medications, Marc is not getting better.  Being imprisoned in a country that has little diplomatic ties to the U.S., on the other side of the world from his family has been isolating and mentally paralyzing to Marc.  

 Marc Fogel’s age and physical condition make his 14-year sentence for less than an ounce of medical marijuana a death sentence for this American teacher from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.