Former Counting On star Joseph Garrett Duggar celebrated his family in a series of Instagram messages posted four years before his arrest for allegedly molesting a 9-year-old
Joseph, 31, and his wife, Kendra Duggar, started an Instagram account for their family in February 2019 but stopped updating it in November 2021. Their final post was published on November 3, 2021, in honor of their daughter Addison’s 2nd birthday. (Joseph and Kendra share four children, Garrett David, 7, Addison Renee, 6, Brooklyn Praise, 5, and Justus, 3.)
Alongside numerous family photos — including Joseph cradling Addison and holding her hand on a walk — he and Kendra, 27, wrote in November 2021, “Happy Birthday sweet girl!!! We love seeing this girl’s sweet little personality blossom over the last two years! Looking forward to making many more memories.”
The Duggars’ Instagram posts were much more sporadic in 2021. The whole family posed together for the July 4th holiday while Joseph and Kendra shared photos from their fourth anniversary trip to Branson, Missouri, that September.
“Finally posting pics from our anniversary trip🥰❤️🥰We so enjoyed seeing [stage show] Jesus at Sight and Sound in and doing SDC [Silver Dollar City theme park]. We had a blast,” they wrote at the time.
Us Weekly reported in September 2017 that the couple tied the knot in Arkansas, with Kendra’s father, Pastor Paul Caldwell, serving as the officiant. The couple met at church as teenagers, with Joseph popping the question at his sister Joy-Anna Duggar’s wedding in May 2017.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum and his family have kept a low profile in recent years. Us confirmed on Wednesday, March 18, that Joseph was arrested by the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas following suspicion of child molestation.
Joseph has been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior involving molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, per the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The Tontitown Police Department tipped off Bay County investigators regarding an allegation of past sexual abuse. An alleged 14-year-old victim told investigators that Joseph sexually abused her during a family vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2020 when she was 9 years old.
“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,” Bay County police shared in a press release. “During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs.
Per the press release, Joseph was confronted over the allegation, at which time Joseph “eventually apologized for his actions and the incidents stopped after the apology.” Joseph is presently awaiting extradition to Bay County, as of publication.
Us has reached out to the Duggar family for comment.
This latest controversy comes after Joseph’s older brother, Josh Duggar, was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in 2022 for receiving child sexual abuse material. Josh has maintained his innocence and continues to appeal his conviction as he serves his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas.
Prior to his imprisonment, Josh said in a statement that he’d “acted inexcusably” when he was accused in a 2015 police report of molesting five girls, two of whom were his sisters, when he was a teenager.
“I confessed [my actions] to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation,” Josh said at the time. “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 understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life.”
His statement went on, “I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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