It’s been four months since Josh Duggar was arrested on child pornography charges, but until today, little was known about the investigation that took him down.
We knew that a car dealership owned by Josh was raided by agents from the Department of Homeland Security back in November of 2020.
But initially, it was widely rumored that the raid had to do with Josh’s hiring practices.
It wasn’t until April of this year that the world learned the awful truth.
At the request of his lawyers, Josh’s trial was pushed back from July until November, allowing the defense more time to prepare their case.
Much more about the investigation will be revealed once the trial gets underway, but already, preparations by Josh’s legal team are bringing new information to light.
Earlier this week, Josh’s lawyers filed a motion to compel the government to release information that had been gathered by prosecutors in July.
Assistant U.S. Attorney responded with a 14-page brief in which he accused the defense of engaging in an “impermissible fishing expedition for evidence that is either nonexistent, immaterial to his defense, or already produced,”
“Despite the defendant’s repeated incantation, the two officers were not involved with the United States’ federal investigation of the defendant and they did not provide the prosecution team with any materials,” Roberts wrote.
“They certainly were not acting on behalf of the United States with respect to this case, as explained in more detail above, and the defendant’s request for this alleged Brady material should therefore be denied.”
Roberts went on to explain that there’s nothing unusual about the manner in which Josh was apprehended, and the offending files were traced to his computer in the sort of investigation that the government carries out every day.
“As with many cases based on undercover investigations of individuals sharing child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”) over peer-to-peer networks, this case is straightforward,” Roberts argued.
Prosecutors explain that Detective Amber Kalmer used law enforcement software to download files depicting the sexual abuse of children directly from Duggar’s PC.
She then sent her findings to Homeland Security Investigations Agent Gerald Faulkner, who traced the materials to Josh’s IP address.
According to Faulkner, one file contained 65 image files of one young girl of that age “lying on her back and using her hands to expose her vagina and anus.”
Another depicted two prepubescent girls “both completely naked laying on top of each other.”
“A male subject is then seen penetrating one of the prepubescent female’s vagina with his erect penis,” Faulkner wrote in his report.
Agent Faulkner called one notorious file, titled “Daisy’s Destruction,” among the “top five worst of the worst” he ever had to examine, as it depicted the abuse of an 18-month old toddler.
“A subsequent forensic examination of that device and other devices seized from the defendant and the car lot pursuant to the warrant uncovered evidence demonstrating that the defendant used the HP Desktop to download from the internet and, subsequently, possess multiple files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” reads the government’s latest filing.
It’s unclear what Josh’s defense team hoped to gain by learning more about the government investigation that led to his arrest.
It’s been rumored for months that the case against Josh is open and shut, and the latest revelations about the evidence against him seem to confirm exactly that.
If convicted on all charges, Josh could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
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