Joseph Duggar of reality show 19 Kids And Counting faces child sex abuse charges

The American former TV personality's wife Kendra Duggar faces child endangerment charges. Read more at straitstimes.com.

NEW YORK – Joseph Duggar, a former star of the hit TLC reality series 19 Kids And Counting (2008 to 2015), which followed a large Arkansas family guided by conservative Christian values, was arrested on March 18 on charges accusing him of molesting a nine-year-old girl in Florida, United States in 2020, the authorities said.

The sheriff’s office in Bay County, Florida, said in a statement that Duggar, 31, repeatedly engaged in “unlawful sexual activity” with the girl in Panama City Beach, Florida, that year.

The girl, who is now 14, reported the sexual assault on March 18 to the police in Tontitown, Arkansas, according to a statement from that department. Investigators determined that the assault happened in Bay County and informed the sheriff’s office, which issued a warrant for Duggar’s arrest.

The girl told investigators that Duggar “eventually apologised for his actions and the incidents stopped after the apology”, the Bay County sheriff’s office said in its statement.

Duggar was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old, and with lewd and lascivious behaviour conducted by a person 18 years or older. He is awaiting extradition to Bay County.

His wife Kendra Duggar, 27, was arrested on child endangerment charges after him, Tontitown police said on March 20. She was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment.