Joseph Duggar, a former reality TV star, arrested on child molestation charges | US news
Former reality TV star Joseph Duggar is facing child molestation charges in Florida, almost five years after his brother Josh, who also starred on the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting, was convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images.
Joseph Duggar, 31, was arrested in Arkansas, where he lives, and was awaiting extradition to Florida on Thursday. Duggar is accused of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under 12, according to an arrest affidavit from the Bay County sheriff’s office in Panama City, Florida.
According to the affidavit, police officers in Tontitown, Arkansas, contacted deputies in Bay County on Wednesday to say they interviewed a 14-year-old girl who said Duggar had molested her several times during a family trip to Panama City Beach when she was nine years old.
The girl’s father confronted Duggar about the abuse this week, and the father said Duggar admitted to it. Police officers in Tontitown, including a detective, had the father search for Duggar, and he again confessed to the actions, the arrest affidavit said.
There is no online court filing for Duggar in Florida, so it was unknown if she had an attorney. No one immediately responded to an inquiry on the Duggar family’s media solicitation website.
Tontitown police did not respond to email and phone inquiries.
TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting chronicled the lives of devout Baptists Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children whose names begin with the letter J.
TLC canceled the show in 2015 following allegations that Josh Duggar harassed his four sisters and a babysitter years ago. Josh Duggar’s family says the boy admitted to being fondled and apologized.
In 2022, he was sentenced to nearly 12 and a half years in prison for one count each of receiving and possessing images depicting child sexual abuse.
