Josh Duggar Arrest: What We Know So Far
Josh Duggar, formerly of the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting, has been arrested.
The 33-year-old was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals on Thursday, April 29. He has been placed on a federal hold and is being held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center in Arkansas.
KNWA reports that Duggar will appear before a judge on Friday, April 30. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that more details related to Duggar’s arrest would be available sometime on Friday.
Josh Duggar’s arrest comes days after Anna Duggar’s pregnancy news
Duggar’s arrest comes just days after his wife Anna Duggar revealed she was pregnant with the couple’s seventh child. The couple married in 2008 and are parents to Mackynzie Renee, 11; Michael James, 9; Marcus Anthony, 7; Meredith Grace, 5; Mason Garrett, 3; and Maryella Hope, 17 months.
“It’s a GIRL!!!!!” Anna Duggar wrote in her April 23 Instagram announcement. “We are overjoyed to announce baby seven is on the way and we can’t wait to hold her in our arms this fall!”
The ‘19 Kids and Counting’ personality’s past scandals
Thursday’s arrest is not the first time Josh Duggar has generated tabloid headlines.
In November 2019, KNWA reported that Homeland Security agents raided a business associated with Josh Duggar, who is the eldest of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children. At the time, a spokesperson for the agency declined to comment on the status of an “ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
In July 2015, TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting after reports emerged that Duggar had molested multiple girls, including several of his siblings, when he was a teenager. (Other members of his family would go on to appear in the spinoff series Counting On.)
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret,” Duggar said in a statement at the time. “I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling … I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life.”
Later in 2015, Duggar confessed to being unfaithful to his wife and having an account on the cheating website Ashley Madison. Duggar, who had previously been employed by the conservative Family Research Council, called himself “the biggest hypocrite ever,” in a statement, and said he was “ashamed of the double life I have been living.”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet has reached out to the Duggar family for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
This story has been updated.
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