Josh Duggar

Josh Duggar
Joshua James Duggar (born March 3, 1988) is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, spun off from a series of television specials. Duggar served as the executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council, from June 2013 to May 2015. He resigned from the position after he was reported to have molested multiple underage girls, including four of his siblings, when he was aged between 12 and 15.
These revelations led to the cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting on July 16, 2015. The consequent fallout was named one of the "10 Big Scandals of 2015" by USA Today, and The Washington Post listed Duggar as one of the fifteen most hated people on the Internet for that year.
On April 29, 2021, Duggar was arrested by U.S. Marshals on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. He was found guilty on all charges on December 9, 2021. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on May 25, 2022.
Early life
Josh Duggar was born on March 3, 1988, in the city of Tontitown in Washington County, Arkansas, to James Robert and Michelle Annette Ruark Duggar. Duggar was homeschooled and passed Arkansas's state test for a general equivalency diploma at the age of 16. He did not attend college.
Career
Reality television personality
Starting in 2005, Duggar appeared on a number of reality television shows about his family, beginning with a program on Discovery Health when he was aged 17. The most prominent of these programs was the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which debuted in September 2008. Duggar's wedding was featured in an episode broadcast on January 25, 2009, which included the planning, preparation, rehearsal, ceremony and reception. Duggar and his wife have stated they saved their first kiss for their wedding day.
Multiple episodes document Duggar's children, including: "GrandDuggar's First Birthday", airing December 7, 2010, where Duggar celebrates his daughter Mackynzie's first birthday and announces the expected birth of their second child; "First Grandson", airing June 19, 2011, which featured Duggar and his wife introducing their second child, Michael James; and "GrandDuggar Makes 3!", airing June 16, 2013, a Father's Day special introducing the Duggars' third baby, Marcus Anthony. A special titled "Josh & Anna: Our Story" aired on October 22, 2013, reviewed the couple's first five years of marriage. Duggar and his wife announced the expected birth of their fourth child on an episode titled "Anna's Having A...", which aired May 12, 2015. The episode included the Duggars announcing the ultrasound showed they were having another girl.
Political activity
When Duggar was a teenager, his father, Jim Bob Duggar, was a two-term Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Duggar has also been active in conservative politics; while running a car dealership he worked as a part-time political consultant in 2007 under the business name Strategic Political Services. In 2008, he worked on the Republican presidential primary campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2012, Duggar addressed rallies for the Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
From June 2013 to May 2015, he was executive director of FRC Action, a political action and lobbying organization sponsored by the Family Research Council. When describing his position with the organization, he stated that he would be focused on "engaging the grassroots and taking the message of faith, family and freedom all across America". FRC president Tony Perkins said that by hiring Duggar they hoped to appeal to more young people by tapping into the popularity of 19 Kids and Counting. He further stated, "The big part of Josh's focus is going to be building our grass-roots across the country". While working at FRC Action, conservative Republican candidates valued Duggar as a way to advance their messages to his constituents. He campaigned for Senate candidates in Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia before the 2014 midterm elections.
Duggar described his family as the "epitome of conservative values" and advocated for what he termed "family-centered" and conservative Christian viewpoints, including opposition to abortion, divorce, and gay marriage. He has been referred to as an "anti-gay activist" by GLAAD, a pro-LGBT rights organization.
Molestation scandal and pornography conviction
2002–2003
Josh touched the breasts and genital region of his sisters on multiple occasions while they were sleeping. His parents said they learned of Josh's sexually abusive behavior in March 2002 when he confessed to it. Jim Bob said that Josh was disciplined at home. In March 2003, the parents learned of additional incidents and victims, and Jim Bob brought the issue to their church elders.
Four of the molestation victims were Duggar's siblings: he had reached under the dress of a younger sister who was in his lap, cornered a sister in the laundry room to reach under her clothing, and touched a much younger sister, who, according to the Duggars, "didn't understand she had been improperly touched". The fifth victim was a babysitter. Michelle claimed that the girls were initially unaware the abuse had occurred. However, years later, in 2021, Jim and Bobye Holt testified that Josh had touched his sisters inappropriately multiple times and that at least one of the girls had reported it.
Josh was sent away from home for about three months to a facility in Little Rock owned by the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a Christian ministry and training program founded by Bill Gothard, a Duggar family friend. Jim Bob told police that, after consulting with his church's leaders, he enrolled Josh in a counseling program that included physical labor, while Michelle similarly said Josh was working for a family friend who was remodeling a building.
In July 2003, after Josh returned home—and 16 months after his initial confession to his parents—Jim Bob took him to meet Joseph Truman Hutchens, an Arkansas State Trooper and family acquaintance. According to Josh and his parents, the meeting was the first time any law enforcement authority was made aware of the abuse. Under Arkansas state law, law enforcement officers, as mandated reporters, are required to alert the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline when learning of sexual abuse. However, Hutchens did not take any official action. He reportedly gave Josh a "stern talk". Jim Bob later claimed that Hutchens was told the entire story and that Josh admitted to Hutchens that he had molested several children and apologized. Speaking via a lawyer, Hutchens disputed part of the account, saying he was only told of a single act of incestuous molestation and that he would have responded differently if he had known of additional instances and victims. (Hutchens was himself convicted in 2012 of unrelated charges relating to child pornography and was sentenced to 56 years in prison.)
2006–2007
In 2004 and 2006, the first four television specials featuring the Duggar family were released. In December 2006, when Josh Duggar was 18, the family was scheduled to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Before the show, an anonymous source emailed Oprah Winfrey's production company, Harpo Studios, and called the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline to reveal Duggar's past sexual misconduct toward minors. Winfrey's producers alerted the Department of Human Services and canceled the Duggar family's appearance.
Springdale police began investigating. Jim Bob told them that Josh had molested five underage girls between 2002 and 2003, when he was 14 and 15 years old. Several family members said there had been no incidents since Duggar returned to the home in late 2003, that they felt safe in their home, and that they had forgiven Duggar for his past behavior.
Under the Arkansas statute of limitations, child sexual abuse charges must be filed within three years of being reported to a police officer. Because of the July 2003 contact with Hutchens, no charges could be filed in December 2006.
2015
Via a Freedom of Information Act request, In Touch Weekly obtained a redacted police report. On May 21, 2015, they published a story about the 2002–2003 events which had been previously unknown to the public. Duggar resigned his position at FRC Action the same day. He stated that he had "acted inexcusably" as a teen and was "deeply sorry" for what he called his wrongdoings. FRC president Tony Perkins said: "Josh believes that the situation will make it difficult for him to be effective in his current work. We believe this is the best decision for Josh and his family at this time. We will be praying for everyone involved."
Debate over release of police reports
Immediately after the article was published, an unidentified victim who was reportedly still a minor requested that any remaining products of the investigation be destroyed. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act states that the records of a juvenile "shall remain confidential" and "shall not be subject to disclosure under the FOI". On May 21, 2015, to protect the victim's privacy, state judge Stacey Zimmerman granted their request and ordered all copies of the report destroyed.
On May 23, Arkansas State Senator Bart Hester called for Springdale Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley to be fired, saying that she had re-victimized Duggar's victims by releasing his records. Then, on June 3, In Touch reported they had obtained another police report. On June 4, Springdale city attorney Ernest Cate defended the release of the records, pointing out the redaction of the names and pronouns of those who were still minors when the police report was filed.
On June 5, 2015, Duggar's sisters Jessa and Jill gave an interview to Megyn Kelly on Fox News, discussing the abuse and the reports' release. Jessa called Duggar's actions as a teen "very wrong" and stated, "I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, as some people are saying ... [T]hat is so overboard and a lie really ... I mean, people get mad at me for saying that, but I can say this because I was one of the victims." She further stated that "the system was set up to protect kids ... it's greatly failed", and that the week preceding the interview had been "a thousand times worse for us" than the sexual abuse. Jill called the release of the police reports "a revictimization".
Admissions following Ashley Madison breach
On August 20, 2015, following the online posting of information from the Ashley Madison data breach, which included records of credit card transactions under his name, Duggar and his parents released a statement on the family website in which he admitted to watching pornography on the Internet and being unfaithful to his wife. According to the material obtained in the data breach, Duggar's credit card was used to pay $986.76 for two Ashley Madison subscriptions starting in February 2013, which were cancelled in May 2015 shortly after the molestation allegations surfaced.
The statement contained the following: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the Internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife" ... "the last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country I was hiding my own personal failures". The reference to pornography was later removed from the website.
On August 25, 2015, Duggar checked himself into a rehabilitation facility that his family described as a "long-term treatment center". The facility was later confirmed in media reports as Reformers Unanimous, which describes itself as "a learning atmosphere where the addicted can be discipled in an environment that is much like a greenhouse".
Sexual assault allegations
In November 2015, pornographic actress Danica Dillon filed suit against Duggar, claiming he had "assaulted her to the point of causing her physical and emotional injuries" during an episode of consensual sex at a Philadelphia strip club earlier in the year. According to Dillon, the incident occurred after she had provided $600 worth of lap dances to Duggar. Dillon was seeking $500,000 in damages from him. In February 2016, Dillon chose to drop the lawsuit after evidence showed that Duggar was not in Philadelphia at the time.
2021 arrest, trial, and conviction
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas recommended a federal investigation of Duggar. In November 2019, as a part of a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation, U.S. Homeland Security agents searched Duggar's used car dealership, Wholesale Motorcars. On April 29, 2021, U.S. Marshals arrested Duggar on federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. Prosecutors believed the images were transmitted in May 2019. The federal grand jury's indictment accused Duggar of "knowingly" receiving pornographic images of children who were under 12 years old. Duggar was arrested and booked into the Washington County Jail. On April 30, 2021, he pleaded not guilty to one count each of charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.
U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Erin L. Wiedemann said that, if Duggar were to be awarded bail, he would have to be "in a residence where there's no minor in the home". At that time, Duggar's six children were under the age of 11, and his wife Anna was pregnant with a seventh child. The seventh child was born in October 2021. Duggar was granted conditional bail at a bond hearing on May 5, and he was released from jail and transferred into the custody of a third-party custodian. As part of the conditions for his bail, Duggar was permitted to have contact with his children only in the presence of his wife. He was required to wear an ankle monitor, have a probation officer's permission to leave the third-party custodians' home, could not access the Internet, and could not be inside a residence where firearms were stored.
Gerald Faulkner, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, stated the files on the computer were "in the top five of the worst of the worst that I've ever had to examine". One of the videos allegedly in Duggar's possession, created by Peter Scully, depicts the rape and torture of an 18-month-old toddler.
Trial
Duggar's trial date, originally set for July 6, was rescheduled for November 30, 2021. He did not meet an October deadline to accept a plea deal.
Duggar's lawyers, trying to get the case dismissed, used procedural nuisances that the judge deemed "frivolous". Their further attempts to suppress evidence similarly were denied by a judge. The prosecution wanted to bring up sexual assault accusations made against Duggar when he was a young teenager; the defense alleged these charges were irrelevant and could prejudice a jury. A pretrial hearing was held on November 18, at which the judge demanded an evidentiary hearing. The evidentiary hearing was held on November 29 in a Fayetteville court to determine if Duggar's father Jim Bob Duggar and family friend Bobye Holt could testify as prosecution witnesses during his trial. During this three-hour hearing, both took the stand, with Holt testifying that Josh Duggar had fondled four younger girls since the age of 12.
On November 30, trial began. The jury was selected, and Duggar's lawyer motioned for trial judge Timothy L. Brooks to dismiss "any further testimony" from Holt. The next day, the judge denied Duggar lawyer's request to dismiss past abuse allegations from evidence; opening statements were heard; and the first witness, Detective Amber Kalmer of the Little Rock Police Department, testified. On December 3, an official from the Department of Justice testified that the hard drive in Duggar's computer had been partitioned into two sections: one which had Windows installed that he used mainly for business, and the second with Linux installed, which he used to download, access and share child pornography. The accountability software Covenant Eyes had been installed on the Windows side and was set to alert Duggar's spouse when pornography was viewed, but the software could not detect what was accessed while the computer was using Linux. Husband and wife Jim and Bobye Holt were called as a witnesses for the prosecution. Jim Holt testified that Josh Duggar had asked him how to create the Linux partition on a computer in 2010, while Bobye Holt reiterated the same information that she testified on November 29.
On December 9, 2021, a jury found Duggar guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Sentence
On May 25, 2022, Duggar was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison. His earliest possible release is October 2, 2032. This will be followed by 20 years of supervised release, during which he must register as a sex offender and can have no unsupervised contact with minors, including his own children. He can only access the Internet with the permission of his probation officer, and must agree to monitoring of his online activity. He was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay an additional $40,100 in special assessments. He had faced up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the two counts.
Aftermath
Multiple Duggar family members and their spouses issued statements following Duggar's conviction. Many expressed approval of the conviction, stating that justice was served, and offered prayers for Duggar and his family. On May 17, 2022, Duggar's cousin, Amy King, posted an open letter to Anna Duggar, telling her "there is no shame in divorcing Josh."
A day after Duggar's conviction, news of his sister Jana's child endangerment charge from September 2021 was published. On December 14, 2021, five days after Josh's conviction, Jim Bob Duggar's bid to represent District 7 of the Arkansas State Senate was unsuccessful, finishing third in the Republican primary.
On January 20, 2022, Josh Duggar's legal team filed for acquittal, arguing that the evidence presented at trial did not support conviction. On May 24, 2022, the federal district court denied his request. On June 3, 2022, Duggar appealed his conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The court upheld Duggar's conviction on August 7, 2023. Duggar subsequently requested rehearing of his appeal by the three-judge panel and for en banc rehearing by the entire Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court denied both rehearing requests on September 28, 2023, thus terminating Duggar's appeal.
Personal life
On September 26, 2008, Duggar and Anna Renée Keller, both aged 20, were married at the Buford Grove Baptist Church in Hilliard, Florida. They have seven children. His four youngest children will still be minors at the time that he is expected to be released from prison. Any visits with his children who are still minors at the time of the visit will have to be supervised.
References
External links
Duggar family
Participants in American reality television series
American male criminals
American people convicted of child pornography offenses
American political activists
Activists from Arkansas
Arkansas Republicans
Child sexual abuse in the United States
Incestual abuse
21st-century American criminals
21st-century Baptists
Baptists from Maryland
Baptists from Arkansas
People from Oxon Hill, Maryland
People from Washington County, Arkansas
1988 births
Living people
Sexual abuse scandals in Evangelicalism
Religious figures convicted of child sexual abuse
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government