Kendra Duggar, the wife of Joseph Duggar — who starred in the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting and was arrested last Wednesday on child molestation charges — was detained on Friday on multiple misdemeanour charges.
Duggar, 27, is facing four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment, the Tontitown, Ark., police department said in a Facebook update on Friday.
“This remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the statement said, adding that Arkansas law limits the release of information in investigations involving minors.
Joseph and Kendra Duggar are both facing the same misdemeanour charges, police said.
“To protect the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of those involved, no further details will be provided at this time,” the department added.
Detention records on the Washington County, Ark., sheriff’s office website show that Kendra Duggar was booked at about 5 p.m. on Friday and released at 6:19 p.m.
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She has a hearing scheduled for Monday, the Guardian reported.
Duggar’s arrest came days after her husband was detained in Tontitown, Fla., over allegations involving a nine-year-old girl during a family vacation in Panama City Beach in 2020, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release last week. It is not clear if Kendra’s charges are related to the incident which led to her husband’s arrest.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim reported that Joseph 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,” investigators 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 Joseph eventually apologized for his actions.
Joseph is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County, police said.
The 31-year-old appeared in 19 Kids and Counting alongside his siblings and parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. The show followed their large family, all of whom have names beginning with the letter “J,” and adhered to a strict homeschooling schedule and rigid religious practices.
The family follows the beliefs of the Institute for Basic Life Principles, an organization that preaches an ultra-conservative Baptist branch of Christianity.
The series was cancelled in 2015 after the Duggars’ eldest son, Joshua, was accused of molesting four of his sisters as a teenager. He is currently serving jail time for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He was sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison in May 2022.
Following the news of Joseph’s arrest, Joshua’s lawyer said on his client’s behalf that Joshua understands the “painful reality” of being falsely accused of a crime and that he was “deeply saddened” to hear of his younger brother’s arrest.
“Josh understands the stigma of being accused. He understands how the targeting of a person for publicity can twist the truth into sensationalized fiction,” his lawyer exclusively told British tabloid The Daily Mail.
The rest of the Duggar family has not publicly commented on Joseph’s or Kendra’s arrest as of this writing.
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