Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of CSAM and child sexual assault.
Former Counting On star Joseph Duggar has been arrested and charged with Lewd and Lascivious Behavior involving unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida reported on Wednesday that investigators were contacted by a detective in the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas regarding a report of past alleged sexual abuse involving the 31-year-old former TLC star.
According to the BCSO, the detective revealed that a now-14-year-old victim had disclosed in a forensic interview several incidents involving Joseph that occurred during a 2020 family vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida, when the teen was 9 years-old.
The victim claimed that Joseph asked her repeatedly to sit on his lap during the vacation, as well as next to him on a couch, and then covered them with a blanket. She went on to state that Joseph “manipulated” her underwear and “grazed her genitals,” and continued to rub his hands on her thighs.
Joseph eventually apologized for his actions and the incidents reportedly stopped; however, investigators learned that the victim’s father confronted Joseph about the incidents earlier this week, at which point Joseph reportedly admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown detectives.
According to the BCSO, Joseph was arrested out of state and charged with Lewd and Lascivious Behavior– Molestation of a Victim Less Than 12-Years-Old and Lewd and Lascivious Behavior Conducted By a Person 18 Years or Older.
As you know, Joseph, who shares at least four children with wife Kendra, is one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children; he’s also the younger sibling of Josh Duggar, who is currently serving more than 12 years in prison for receiving and possessing child sex abuse materials (CSAM).
Joseph is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County, Florida.
UPDATE: Joseph was booked into the Washington County Jail in Arkansas just before 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday, where he remains as of press time. He is being held for another department. His mugshot has also been released.
As of press time, no member of the Duggar family has released a statement regarding Joseph’s arrest.
UPDATE 2: The Washington County Sherriff’s Department has released the video of Joseph being admitted into the county jail. Click here to watch it and read the latest updates.
UPDATE 3: On Friday, affidavit filed by the Bay County Florida’s Sheriff’s Office regarding Joseph’s arrest for the alleged molestation in Florida reveals that the ‘Counting On’ star first confessed to molesting the nine-year-old girl during a conversation with the minor victim’s father.
The father and a detective then called Joseph, who admitted he touched the minor over her clothing.
People has obtained the affidavit, which states that Joseph admitted that “his intentions were not pure.”
The affidavit also states that the alleged molestation happened during a family vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2020. Florida Investigator Chase Norris wrote in the affidavit that Joseph allegedly “asked the victim to sit on his lap, numerous times” and “would cradle the victim with his arms.”
The then-nine-year-old girl also stated that she sat next to Joe on a couch at the family’s vacation home. Once she did, Joe then allegedly covered them both with a blanket and proceeded to “pull the victim’s dress up and touch the victim’s thighs.” The victim stated that Joe “would touch the top portions of her thighs and would inch higher and higher, closer to the victim’s waistline.” He allegedly did this several times during the vacation, and each time the minor claimed that Joe would “graze” her vagina, which she said made her “feel uncomfortable and confused.”
The girl— who is now 14— came forward with the details this week during a forensic interview.
RELATED STORY: Josh Duggar Hires R. Kelly’s Lawyer Beau Brindley Despite Previously Claiming He’s Broke; Gets Latest Hearing Continued
(Photos: TLC)
80 Responses
On top of being the most vile thing a human could be, they have the most unpleasant faces. They look creepy af and give me huge ick
I know everyone wants him locked up and throw away the key. I get it. Can these Perverts be rehabilitated? Clinically is there any hope to get free of their fetishes? If every pedi file was locked up, our male population would be drastically decreased. There has to be an answer better than 25 yrs at tax payers expense. If there is zero hope to be cured then wait for it execution. What is the purpose of throwing away the key and housing them if there is no hope of being cured. Gosh,many nations through history and today do exicutions. If every pedifile was incarcerated, it could financially strain the economy. Just throwing out my thoughts.
No there isn’t. They should all be executed or at the very least chemically and physically castrated. Even then some do it to feel powerful so that’s not even a guarantee which is why execution is the only cure. At least then others with vile desires would be too fearful to act on them.
There is no cure for pedophiles, at all. Castration, in any form, can prevent acting on it with one’s genitals and that’s about it. Nothing actually stops the thoughts. Nothing stops acting with other appendages, or worse, objects. Nothing but a death sentence eliminates pedophiles, period.
Kendra has known about this for some time. The general public only just got word, and an arrest made. But let’s not pretend this was only just revealed to her. It’s something they’ve clearly been dealing with and he was only just recently called to task on his deviance.
She hasn’t left him. She hasn’t removed her children from him. Had he not been arrested,he’d still be around them. She is as bad as Anna. Let us hope she figures her shit out quick and gets the hell away from all of them, even her own family within their cult.
Thought he was one of the good ones. I feel bad for the victim
I distinctly remember during Joy Anna’s wedding era she talked about struggling with her faith/parent’s religion. She considered walking away, but Joseph was the one that help reaffirm her faith. SMH, this has got to be a gut punch
I am certain that the whole umbrella of authority, the breaking of strong willed children, and the quiverfull movement that was created and pushed by James Dobson and Bill Gothard was made for this reason. They wanted to create a culture where men were above women and children and had access to both so they could abuse them easier. It’s no different than the abuse that runs rampant in the Mormon communities. Unfortunately, these teaching were brought mainstream by Dobson and are in most Christian churches in the South and Midwest. Epstein also promoted Dobsons teachings on breaking the will of children. It’s all connected. That’s why Gothard was pushing so hard for boys to go into politics.
I do believe Gotham’s is a pedo- too many reports of incidents….. however I am not so sure about Dr Dobson- I did read his book when I was raising mine and he never advocated breaking children’s spirit- just their will which Is something you must do as a parent- you see all these college kids today and their safe spaces and their inability to cope with anyone with a different opinion and see what goes wrong when you don’t- it goes along with never letting your child be at the mercy of his emotions. I found his book helpful and Bible based
Breaking someone’s will literally means to crush their spirit, determination and their resolve until they have no desire to fight back. It is a horrible thing to do to a person, especially a child.
When a human trafficker is using and sharing the techniques created by Dobson to be able to abuse and trafficking children more easily, you should probably rethink doing the same.
It has nothing to do with safe spaces. 🙄
Well…I do believe Gotham’s is a pedo- too many reports of incidents….. however I am not so sure about Dr Dobson- I did read his book when I was raising mine and he never advocated breaking children’s spirit- just their will which Is something you must do as a parent- you see all these college kids today and their safe spaces and their inability to cope with anyone with a different opinion and see what goes wrong when you don’t- it goes along with never letting your child be at the mercy of his emotions. I found his book helpful and Bible based
I’m kinda surprised we are here again and not surprised at the same time. Of course his wife will stay by his side because that’s what she was taught and because what would she do with no education or job experience and 4 kids to raise? She’ll blame herself and the cult will blame her too
I just wonder what really went on in that house- I can tell you this behavior is not normal and NOT Bible based.
I fell for it.The whole Duggar family thing.Huge fan of the show.Believed in them.I am a fool.
No, you are not- you liked what they showed you and that was a fairy tale. I don’t know if this is happening because Jim Bob ( what a name!) had this happen to him so he was doing inappropriate things or because they had so many children they could not watch them all-
And the predator was at their church or in the film crew- but there should be an investigation this is not normal.
Same. I used to adore them. They all seemed so happy and good. My bf was like “ummm, no, they’re all twisted fucks, babe…” after seeing a second of their show.
At what point do we start putting these fundamentalists on the same pedestal as Scientologists and other cults? This is RAMPANT in this community!!!
At this point, just arrest that entire goddamn family just to be sure.
Sicko’s.
Hopefully Kendra is a better mom (and a whole lot smarter) than Anna and Michelle and gets her babies out of there!
You would hope- but sadly it is doubtful because in all Christian Churches- and I have witnessed this first hand- and they are so wrong, and sadly why I stopped attending when this happened to a good friend- if you divorce you are a pariah. There are good reasons like this where you must- I could never be in the same room with my husband if he had done something like this.
This might be partly a “local culture” thing. I grew up in a mainline Protestant church in the PNW. It was maybe awkward if someone mentioned getting a divorce because we don’t have a culturally agreed upon reaction to it (“Am I supposed to look sad…? Everyone else is nodding sympathetically, she looks relieved at the reaction, also nodding sympathetically, got it”). Off the top of my head I can think of two friends with divorced parents who both went there and it wasn’t anything that ever came up.
I hope so too! I heard on another post on this issue that Kendra’s father had it out with Jim Bob a few years ago after the Josh thing, and I hope her family will pull her and the kids FAR away from that sick Duggar family. I also heard Joseph could do 25 years or more, so hopefully that is the case and Kendra gets away to start fresh with her babies. I am sickened when I look at their family pics and Joseph is holding their little girls! Sickened!! Kendra, run girl! Protect your daughters at all cost!! Men like that do NOT change!! I also hope Anna’s kids are removed from her care IF Josh is released and she goes back to living with him. Kids must be protected!!
What a surprise a member of a creepy cult is a predator.
When he married Kendra, huge red flag….she has ALWAYS looked so much younger than what she is…it made me so uneasy. Now that poor woman has to deal with this mess, and 4 kiddos. hopefully she doesn’t pull an Anna and SBHM!
She was 19. Joe was 22. Maybe she looked a year or two younger but not remotely prepubescent. What was he supposed to do, divorce her when he realized her face shape would always make her look younger than her age? Ban her from wearing sunscreen? Have her get buccal fat removed?
Is everyone in my mom’s family (men and women alike) married to someone sketchy because we have “carded for beer at 30 in the ’80s” level baby face? At 27 I had a patient throw a fit because he insisted I wasn’t old enough to be a nurse. My dad is three months older than my mom and in their sixties his coworkers saw a picture of her (totally normal picture) and made “robbing the cradle” jokes (as in “had done so decades ago”).
Joe is gross, the situation is awful, Kendra is in a shit situation, and hopefully she’ll pack up and move back to her parents who will also hopefully will help her file for divorce and not pressure her to be a “Godly wife” (🤮) and go back to him.
But acting like guys are pervs for being with age-appropriate partners who look younger than they are has always felt like the other side of “look at her-of course he thought she was legal.”
I feel so bad for Kendra. At least she will have Anna to understand what she is going through. It is so disgusting to think about him doing that.
“well at least I have a husband”
Anna stands by her trash husband. Kendra, so far, since finding out,has stayed with her’s as well.
I do not feel bad for either of them, as they both had prior knowledge and did NOTHING to keep their own children safe. Ignorance and lack of education is no excuse, and yet it’s the only one either of them has.
Victims get sympathy, empathy and thoughts. Enablers ought to get a similar punishment to perpetrators.
Too bad her dad didn’t beat the shit out of him. That would have been a better headline.
I wonder if they get it from somewhere….
This! If is was just Josh there can always be one weirdo in a family without the family itself having caused it but both of them? Holy something must have happened to cause it.
Agree.
He literally just flushed his family and everything straight down the toilet. No one is going to want any Dugger content whatsoever. I sure fucking don’t.
Jim Bob’s father has past accusations of pedophilia too.
That’s it! I said on another Duggar post the only time I’ve seen something like this is when it started with the grandfather then the father who then abused the sons and the son went on to abuse his younger siblings. When you see it spread within a family there is almost ALWAYS a history. At this point I would never let a Duggar male around my kids family or not big eff no.
They do!
My mouth literally fell open when I saw it on TMZ though I’m not too surprised. He was married and had two kids, one of them a daughter, when he did this too. Disgusting. I’m sad for Kendra and the kids along with the victim. Also, can we please stop assuming the victim is a family member including one of his in-laws? Why does it even matter? And also stop assuming things about Jim Bob too. I don’t like him either but I’m not going to assume he did things. He moved the girls’ room to his and Michelle’s side of the house after finding out about what Josh did; having it where you have to walk through the master bedroom in order to get to their room.
It doesn’t excuse him or anything, but at least he admitted to it unlike his brother whose still denying any wrong doing. That makes me angry. He still deserves to be charged and in jail though.
They knew about Josh’s heinous acts long before the girl’s room was modified and that isn’t even why they did it. They needed a bigger room, that was the only reason. It also didn’t require you to go through the master first. I don’t even know where the hell you got that, lmao.
Anyone who defends a pedophile does so for a reason. Jim defends it, vehemently. In fact, he has said that repenting (saying sorry I his eyes) clears your misdeeds…if you’re male anyway.
Also “at least he admitted it” changes nothing. He is as bad as Josh, full stop. Saying sorry I did that doesn’t make it better in any way. Wtaf is wrong with you?
It runs in the family because their grandfather was known to be pervy and Amy said her mother never let her be alone around her grandfather. This is disgusting and I feel so much for the victim.
I’ve always said that all the boys creep me out other than John David. They have Jim Bob vibes.
Florida recently really started cracking down on this type of stuff. Let’s all hope they decide to make an example out of him with it being such a high profile case.
John David to me, gives the creepiest vibe of all of them
John David has a whole different personality than Josh and Jim Bob. He’s quiet instead of trying (and failing) to be charismatic. He also seems to have a closer relationship to his sisters, especially Jana, and more respect for women overall. He chose a wife that has a mind of her own and they haven’t had rapid-fire babies. Dude just keeps to himself and flies his planes. I may be wrong, but I just feel like he’s a genuinely good guy.
Agree!
That’s not fair. John David has not done anything wrong
We used to think that about ALL of them…..
I said it from the beginning of this show- the dad is not trustworthy and it shows in his sons… that’s all I will say.
Wait- he was already married when this happened??? Omg
And had two kids…
Yes, he was married and had two children when this happenned. They now have four children.
WTF is wrong with the men in this family?! 🤢🤮
The chances that the apples falling from Jim Bob’s tree being just as odd, creepy, and (potentially) pervy as he was? Pretty good and growing apparently.
Disgusted and sad for all the children and innocent women involved here. Fuck anyone who’s enabling.
This is horrifying! It’s got to be a family member because what other little girls would he be around that close? And obviously the father knows him because he confronted him recently about it. I am so sad for the girls in their family, they have all been through so much 🙁
I don’t know which one. There are no girl duggar grandkids that are 14 years old right now
He has a sister in law that age
It has to be one of Kendra’s siblings. Josie is the youngest of the Duggar siblings and she is sixteen as is Josh’s oldest daughter so it’s neither of them. The next oldest Duggar granddaughter is Meredith and she is 10.
Can someone explain what the second charge is? The one over 18? Is that a separate person he molested or is it the same girl, but she’s 18 now?
It means that he was over 18 when it happened.
It means that at 26, he was an adult, 18 years or older at the time of the crime perpetrated on the 9-year-old (a child under 12).
Has to be someone close to them because NO ONE thought anything bad was going on when he wanted her to sit on his lap covered with a blanket. This makes me unbelievably angry. Especially since the ENTIRE family SHOULD be on high alert for this kind of shit after what was exposed with Josh
It wasn’t a Duggar daughter because do you honestly think JB would rat out his son when they already got Pest behind bars for CSAM? They were with Kendra’s family in Florida when it happened but the only daughter close to 14 is 15. It does make me think possibly a friend of the 15 year old Caldwell daughter though.
I am shocked yet not as the same time
I remember making the comment back when he got married, that he looked a lot like his brother Josh. I half jokingly said “let’s hope he doesn’t have the same “interests” as his brother Josh! And everyone in the comment section came after me! I think I’m still glad I made that comment.
And again with the down-votes? What did I say that was wrong?
I don’t see any down votes
The thumbs down thing is down votes, I think. And it still baffles me because I certainly in no way said anything in support of the Duggars. And I never would.
Sort of tasteless to joke about sexual abuse, that may be why there are downvotes
You’re getting downvotes likely because your comment makes it *seem* like you’re happy you were right and he did turn out to be a vile creature just like his brother. I am willing to hope that isn’t what you meant, but others probably aren’t. It reads pretty creepy, and definitely needs a re-wording.
I could be wrong on my interpretation of the downvotes too.
like brother, like brother…like father?… like grandpa?
absolutely disgraceful. WTAF is wrong with this family?!?
very brave of the victim to come forward and keep pursuing justice. thankfully the authorities seem to be taking this seriously.
Grandpa
Oh my. I mean I can’t say I’m surprised. I do think his wife will profess his innocence.
Truly awful 😞
Unfortunately, this isnt shocking. I wonder how many more pedo kids rhey raised
Not only that, but the odds out of 18 kids, one (or more) being gay is a probability too. I can’t help but think that Jim Boob would react more strongly against a gay offspring than he has about his pedo ones. He’d have the gay one(s) mysteriously “disappear” while he continues to support the child molesters
This is so sad for the victims and for Joe’s wife Kendra and their children. Also, I wonder if Josh molested his brothers as well? Joe definitely learned this somewhere.
Their grandfather was allegedly accused of sex abuse as well. His son, Jim Bob, made many creepy and sexually inappropriate comments to his daughters throughout the show.
I can’t even imagine what was going on in that house…
Their grandfather was a pedophile per cousin Amy, i dont doubt it. His dad just has a breeding kink. Disgusting people.
Well, well, well
Wow. Disgusting.
I’m disgusted but not at all surprised.