Malphine Fogel's Fight To Bring Her Son Home

TRYING THAT HER SON IS COMING HOME. MARK FOGLE’S FAMILY IS FILLED WITH JOY NOW THAT HE IS HEADED BACK HOME TO THE UNITED STATES. HE JUST SAID, I’M IN THE MOSCOW AIRPORT. AND OF COURSE, HE USUALLY CALLS FROM THE PRISON. AND I SAID, WELL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE? HE SAYS, I’M WAITING FOR A PLANE TO TAKE ME TO WASHINGTON, D.C., WHICH WAS UNBELIEVABLE. UNBELIEVABLE. WHAT WERE YOU FEELING AT THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU SAID, WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT? I ACTUALLY GOT DIZZY. HE CALLED MY MOM RIGHT BEFORE HE GOT ON THE PLANE. AND SO IT WAS LIKE, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN? AND THEN WE GOT THE NEWS THAT THEY WERE OUT OF RUSSIAN AIRSPACE. SO WE ARE REALLY PUMPED. THIS IS THE IMAGE MARK FOGLE’S FAMILY HAS BEEN WAITING FOR FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS. HIS JOURNEY BACK TO THE UNITED STATES, HIS HOME SOIL. MARK’S MOTHER, DELPHENE FOGLE, SAYS EVERY NIGHT AT 930, SHE AND HER SISTERS PRAYED TOGETHER FOR MARK’S RELEASE. BUT SHE BELIEVES HIS RELEASE SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED LONG AGO BECAUSE HIS OFFENSE WAS NOT CRIMINAL. MEDICAL MARIJUANA, WHICH HE NEEDED FOR HIS BACK PAIN. HE HAD HAD THREE SERIOUS BACK OPERATIONS. FOGLE’S FLIGHT BACK TO WASHINGTON IS SCHEDULED TO LAND JUST AFTER 9:00, AND THEN HE HEADS TO SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, WHERE HE WILL UNDERGO A PHYSICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATIONS. REPORTING FRO

95-year-old Malphine Fogel’s tireless fight to bring her son Marc home from Russia

For over three years, the 95-year-old mother of Russian detainee Marc Fogel has been fighting for his release. On Tuesday, the White House announced Fogel would be coming home to the United States after a successful exchange with Russia. “He called my mom right before he got on the plane, and so it was like, oh my gosh, is this going to really happen? And then we got the news that they were out of Russian airspace, so we are really pumped,” said Marc Fogel’s sister, Anne.Fogel was detained in a Russian prison, and sentenced to 14 years in a Russian penal colony in 2022 for drug trafficking after he was arrested for possessing medical marijuana, which was prescribed by a doctor in the United States.Since that day, Malphine Fogel has searched for ways to get her son back to Western Pennsylvania.”He just said, ‘I’m in the Moscow airport’ — he usually calls from the prison — and I said, ‘What are you doing there?’ And he said, ‘I’m waiting for a plane to take me to Washington, D.C.,’ which was unbelievable,” Malphine Fogel told sister station WTAE. She added, “I actually got dizzy.”Malphine spoke with news organizations, reached out to Pennsylvania’s lawmakers and even spoke to then-former President Donald Trump prior to his rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, this summer.For years, Marc Fogel went without the ‘wrongfully detained’ designation, a designation that would help pave the path for her son’s release.”He’s not a criminal,” Malphine Fogel said at the time. “He is a dedicated teacher. He was always a good son, a good husband, a wonderful father and he needs to come home.”In June of 2024, Malphine Fogel filed a lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The lawsuit claimed Blinken deprived Marc Fogel and his family members of the Levinson Act by not designating him as such. The Levinson Act provides “assistance for United States nationals taken hostage or unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad and for other purposes.”The lawsuit argues the secretary of state has also failed to disclose any valid reason for not giving Fogel the designation. A month after that lawsuit, Malphine Fogel was invited to speak with Trump at the Butler Farm Show Grounds, the same day President Trump was shot at during a campaign rally.She told WTAE she was pleasantly surprised by the exchange she had with Trump before he went on stage. She told him about her continued push to bring her son home. “I said, don’t forget his name,” Malphine Fogel said. “I probably had five minutes, and I have trouble walking, so I had a cane with me or walking stick with me, and he said hang onto my arm, and so I did, and I stood beside him, and then I told him what my mission was.”Malphine recalled telling the former president she wanted her son to be deemed “wrongfully detained” by the State Department and ultimately brought home. She described his response as gracious.“He went like this. He said, ‘We’ll get him out.’ So I told Marc that he said that three different times. He pointed his thumb up and said, ‘We’re going to get him out.’ And so I think I hated to give him false hope, but he did say that. So we’ll see,” Malphine Fogel said.In December, attorneys confirmed Marc Fogel got the wrongful designation status his family had been waiting and hoping for. “It’s been such a long time, and sometimes you felt like it was a bottomless pit and nothing was going to happen, and we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. And, you know, we’re hoping that the rest of the process is sped up and he gets out as soon as possible,” Malphine Fogel said.

For over three years, the 95-year-old mother of Russian detainee Marc Fogel has been fighting for his release.

On Tuesday, the White House announced Fogel would be coming home to the United States after a successful exchange with Russia.

“He called my mom right before he got on the plane, and so it was like, oh my gosh, is this going to really happen? And then we got the news that they were out of Russian airspace, so we are really pumped,” said Marc Fogel’s sister, Anne.

Fogel was detained in a Russian prison, and sentenced to 14 years in a Russian penal colony in 2022 for drug trafficking after he was arrested for possessing medical marijuana, which was prescribed by a doctor in the United States.

Since that day, Malphine Fogel has searched for ways to get her son back to Western Pennsylvania.

“He just said, ‘I’m in the Moscow airport’ — he usually calls from the prison — and I said, ‘What are you doing there?’ And he said, ‘I’m waiting for a plane to take me to Washington, D.C.,’ which was unbelievable,” Malphine Fogel told sister station WTAE. She added, “I actually got dizzy.”

Malphine spoke with news organizations, reached out to Pennsylvania’s lawmakers and even spoke to then-former President Donald Trump prior to his rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, this summer.

For years, Marc Fogel went without the ‘wrongfully detained’ designation, a designation that would help pave the path for her son’s release.

“He’s not a criminal,” Malphine Fogel said at the time. “He is a dedicated teacher. He was always a good son, a good husband, a wonderful father and he needs to come home.”

In June of 2024, Malphine Fogel filed a lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The lawsuit claimed Blinken deprived Marc Fogel and his family members of the Levinson Act by not designating him as such.

The Levinson Act provides “assistance for United States nationals taken hostage or unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad and for other purposes.”

The lawsuit argues the secretary of state has also failed to disclose any valid reason for not giving Fogel the designation.

A month after that lawsuit, Malphine Fogel was invited to speak with Trump at the Butler Farm Show Grounds, the same day President Trump was shot at during a campaign rally.

She told WTAE she was pleasantly surprised by the exchange she had with Trump before he went on stage. She told him about her continued push to bring her son home.

“I said, don’t forget his name,” Malphine Fogel said. “I probably had five minutes, and I have trouble walking, so I had a cane with me or walking stick with me, and he said hang onto my arm, and so I did, and I stood beside him, and then I told him what my mission was.”

Malphine recalled telling the former president she wanted her son to be deemed “wrongfully detained” by the State Department and ultimately brought home. She described his response as gracious.

“He went like this. He said, ‘We’ll get him out.’ So I told Marc that he said that three different times. He pointed his thumb up and said, ‘We’re going to get him out.’ And so I think I hated to give him false hope, but he did say that. So we’ll see,” Malphine Fogel said.

In December, attorneys confirmed Marc Fogel got the wrongful designation status his family had been waiting and hoping for.

“It’s been such a long time, and sometimes you felt like it was a bottomless pit and nothing was going to happen, and we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. And, you know, we’re hoping that the rest of the process is sped up and he gets out as soon as possible,” Malphine Fogel said.

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