Former 19 Kids and Counting star Joseph Duggar was arrested Wednesday (March 18) for a past incident in which he allegedly molested a little girl, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced via USA TODAY.
Duggar, 31, was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior involving sexual activity with a victim who was 9 at the time of the incident and is now 14. The child spoke with authorities during a forensic interview and disclosed several moments involving Duggar during a 2020 family vacation to Panama City Beach which allegedly included him repeatedly asking her to sit on his lap, as well as manipulating the child’s underwear and grazing her genitals on a couch while under a blanket.
The girl claimed that Duggar, the seventh oldest of 19 siblings previously chronicled on the TLC reality series, later apologized for his actions and no further incidents occurred, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The child’s father later confronted Duggar about the incidents on Tuesday (March 17) and the former reality TV star admitted them to authorities in his hometown of Tontitown, Arkansas, and he’s set to be extradited to Bay County to face his charge.
Joseph’s arrest comes years after his oldest sibling, Josh, was arrested for possession of child pornography in 2021, convicted that same year and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in 2022. TLC had previously canceled 19 Kids and Counting amid revelations that Josh had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter as a teenager and admitted he cheated on his wife in 2015.
A 2023 docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets included revelations that parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar joined the Institute for Basic Life Principles, a fundamentalist Christian organization often described as a cult, as a young couple. Bill Gothard, a leader in the conservative Christian “Quiverfull” movement, founded the institute and taught women and children to be unwaveringly obedient and submissive, having later been forced out of his role due to allegations of sexual harassment and assaulting young girls, according to the docuseries.
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