Josh Duggar, a member of the family made famous by the long-running TLC series “19 Kids and Counting,” is being held in an Arkansas jail following his arrest for possession of child pornography.
Duggar, 33, who has been investigated in the past for child molestation, was once a religious and political lobbyist, but has more recently been out of the spotlight following reports in 2015 that he had assaulted five underage girls (including two of his sisters).
Court documents allege that Duggar used the internet to download child sexual abuse material, and that he possessed this material, which the court says depicts the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12, in May 2019.
Duggar is being charged by indictment with receiving and possessing child pornography. If convicted, he faces
up to 20 years of imprisonment and fines up to $250,000 for each each count.
This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation.
In 2015, TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting,” the once-popular program about the large Duggar clan. The show became a liability for the network after Josh Duggar had disclosed he had sexually molested teenage girls — including two of his sisters — several years ago.
Duggar is the oldest child in the devout Baptist family and had been one of the central figures in the show. He later admitted to molesting girls.
“19 Kids” premiered in 2008, chronicling the life of the family of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their (at first) 17 children, later expanding to 18 and then 19. Once the molestation details began to surface, advertiser support for the program wavered with advertisers, including General Mills, Choice Hotels International and Payless Shoe Source.
Discovery Communications later took a financial hit after having to write down the value of the canceled series.
“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,” Duggar said in a 2015 statement.
Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!
Source: Read Full Article
