Joseph and Wife Kendra Duggar Welcomed Fourth Baby Prior to Arrest on Child Molestation Charges
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NEED TO KNOW
- Joseph Duggar was arrested on March 18 and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older
- In the jail records obtained by PEOPLE, he is listed as a father of four, though he and his wife, Kendra Duggar, only publicly welcomed three kids
- Joseph remains in police custody in Arkansas, PEOPLE confirms
Joseph Duggar’s arrest revealed that he and his wife, Kendra Duggar, are actually a family of six.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum, 31, was arrested on Wednesday, March 18, in Washington County, Arkansas, and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, per a release from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
Joseph, 31, was booked into the Washington County jail at 3:59 p.m. local time, according to jail records obtained by PEOPLE, and he is listed as a father of four.
He and Kendra, whom he wed in 2017, were public about her first three pregnancies. They welcomed their first child, son Garrett David, in 2018, followed by their daughter Addison Renee in 2019. They welcomed their third child, daughter Brooklyn Praise, in 2021, and have since stepped back from social media.
The last post shared by their joint Instagram account was to mark Addison’s second birthday in 2021.
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Joseph’s March 18 arrest was in connection to a child sexual abuse case involving a then-9-year-old girl who was on vacation with her family in Panama City Beach, Fla., in 2020.
The alleged sexual abuse occurred when Joseph allegedly asked the victim to sit on his lap. “As the vacation continued, he also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket. During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs,” Bay County Sheriff’s Office alleged.
“The victim stated Duggar eventually apologized for his actions and the incidents stopped after the apology,” Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.
The arrest was a result of the victim, now 14, participating in a forensic interview regarding a report of past sexual abuse. The victim’s father confronted Duggar about the incidents and Joseph “allegedly admitted his actions to the father and Tontitown detectives.”
PEOPLE confirms that Duggar is in police custody, but an official extradition timeline has not been released.
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Joseph’s arrest comes years after his brother, Josh Duggar, a father of seven, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography in December 2021. Per the Department of Justice, Josh used the “dark web and online file-sharing software” to download “child sexual abuse material from the internet multiple times” in 2019. He was arrested by Homeland Security in April 2021.
Before that, in 2015, Josh confessed to molesting multiple young girls, including sisters Jill (Duggar) Dillard and Jessa (Duggar) Seewald, as a teenager. He also admitted to using Ashley Madison to have an extramarital affair. The disgraced TV personality shares seven children with his wife Anna Duggar. He later announced he would enter rehab for his pornography addiction.
