Credit: Instagram
19 Kids and Counting star Joseph Duggar was arrested after being accused of child molestation of a victim under 12 years old.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office shared a press release, explaining that investigators were contacted by a detective from the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas regarding a report of alleged sexual abuse that occurred in the past. A 14-year-old alleged victim claimed several things had taken place with Joseph when she was nine years old.
While on vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2020, the alleged victim claimed Joseph asked her to sit on his lap and “grazed her genitals” while she was under a blanket. He allegedly apologized for what he’d done, and the alleged actions stopped. Then, her father confronted Joseph on Tuesday, March 17. Authorities claimed that Joseph admitted what he’d done to the victim’s father and to Tontitown detectives.
Joseph, 31, was arrested and is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County.
In a mugshot that was released, Joseph had a neutral expression on his face and messy hair, and he wore a dark gray T-shirt.
c/o Tontitown Police Department
Joseph is not the first of the Duggar brood to have been accused of inappropriate conduct with minors.
In 2015, it was reported that the oldest Duggar brother, Josh Duggar, had previously molested five girls, some of whom were his siblings, when he was a teenager. He apologized for his actions at the time and went to counseling.
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret,” he shared on the family’s Facebook account in 2015. “I hurt others, including my family and close friends.”
Josh’s news being outed led to 19 Kids and Counting being canceled.
A month later, Josh was outed in the Ashley Madison data breach as having used the site, which was a notorious website people used to cheat on their spouses.
“I have been the biggest hypocrite ever,” he said at the time. “While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife.”
He added, “I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust.”
On April 19, 2021, Josh was arrested on federal charges for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He was found guilty in December 2021 and sentenced to over 12 years behind bars in May 2022.
Josh’s current release date from jail is October 2, 2032, and he will face 20 years of supervised release after.
Josh’s wife, Anna Duggar, has stuck by his side through all of his scandals.