Former reality television personality Joseph Duggar is facing serious charges of child molestation in Florida, following a disturbing revelation nearly five years after his brother Josh Duggar was convicted for similar offenses related to child sexual abuse images. Joseph Duggar, aged 31, was arrested in Arkansas and is currently awaiting extradition to Florida to face the charges.
According to an arrest affidavit released by the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Panama City, Florida, Duggar is charged with lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 12 years old. This charge stems from an investigation initiated by police in Tontitown, Arkansas, who reported interviewing a 14-year-old girl. The minor indicated that Duggar had allegedly molested her multiple times during a family trip to Panama City Beach when she was just 9 years old.
The matter came to light when the girl’s father confronted Duggar about the abuse this week. Reports suggest that Duggar admitted to the abuse during a conversation facilitated by law enforcement, where the father called him while a detective was listening in.
As of the latest information, no attorney has been announced on Duggar's behalf, as there isn’t an online court docket available for his case in Florida. Requests for comments made through the Duggar family’s media channels have yet to receive a response.
The Tontitown Police Department has confirmed that their investigation into the matter remains ongoing and has deferred further inquiries to the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Florida.
The Duggar family gained fame through TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” which chronicled their lives as devout Baptists raising their 19 children, all of whom have names starting with the letter “J.” The show was canceled in 2015 following allegations against Josh Duggar, who had previously confessed to molesting some of his sisters and a babysitter. In 2022, he was sentenced to around 12.5 years in prison for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse images.
