Joseph Duggar, who starred on the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, was arrested Wednesday on charges of molesting a nine-year-old girl in Florida in 2020, according to authorities.
The 31-year-old Duggar is accused of lewd and lascivious behaviour involving unlawful sexual activity with a minor, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
“On March 18, 2026, Bay County investigators were contacted by a detective with the Tontitown Police Department regarding a report of past sexual abuse,” the news release said. “The 14-year-old victim participated in a forensic interview, where she disclosed several incidents involving Duggar that occurred during a family vacation in Panama City Beach when she was 9-years-old.”
According to the investigation, the incident took place in 2020 while the family was staying at a residence on Danny Drive, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.
“The victim reported Duggar repeatedly asked her 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,” police said. “During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs.”
The victim, who is now 14, told police the incidents stopped after Duggar eventually apologized for his actions.
“Investigators discovered the victim’s father confronted Duggar about these incidents on March 17th, 2026. Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown Detectives,” police added.
Duggar was arrested out of state and charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour involving molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behaviour conducted by a person 18 years or older.
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He is currently waiting for extradition to Bay County after his arrest by the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas.
The Tontitown Police Department said it was “aware of a reported incident that may cause concern within our community. This incident did not occur in Tontitown. Our officers assisted the victim, the family, and the agency with jurisdiction over the case.”
“Earlier today, Tontitown officers received a report of a sexual assault. During the initial investigation, it was determined the incident occurred in Bay County, Florida. Contact was made with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office,” it added in a new release on Wednesday.
The department added that all further questions regarding the incident should be directed to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Panama City, Fla.
Joseph is not the first Duggar to be arrested. TLC previously cancelled 19 Kids and Counting in 2015 following allegations that Joseph’s older brother, Josh Duggar, had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired.
Josh’s parents said after the allegations resurfaced in 2015 that he had confessed to the fondling and apologized privately. Josh then apologized publicly for unspecified behaviour and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Months later, he also publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and admitted to having a pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.
Joseph spoke out about his older brother’s behaviour in a December 2015 promo clip for the three-part special on TLC titled Jill & Jessa: Counting On.
“Whenever somebody you respect the most is willing to get up and proclaim what we believe as Christians, about being true to your wife, you’d never think that that’s the person who’s involved in it,” Joseph said.
He also said at the time that he was surprised his brother “was living such a secret life.”
Six years later, Josh was convicted in 2021 for downloading child sex abuse images and is currently serving a 12.5-year prison sentence.
Federal authorities investigated Josh after Little Rock, Ark., police detectives found child sexual abuse material was being shared by a computer traced to him. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Josh owned.
In April of 2021, he was arrested by Homeland Security and held without bond until his trial eight months later.
His lawyer filed an appeal in October 2022, asking for a new trial, and during a February 2023 hearing, lawyer Justin Gelfand argued that his client’s phone was seized while Josh was trying to obtain legal representation when federal agents raided his place of business ahead of his 2021 arrest.
His appeal for a new child pornography trial was rejected in October 2023 and he won’t be released from prison until October 2032.
The Duggar family and TLC have not publicly commented on Joseph’s arrest as of this writing.
— With files from Global News and The Associated Press
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