Josh Duggar, who starred in TLC's 19 Kids and Counting, has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for possessing child po**ography. Duggar was found guilty by a jury in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in December 2021 and was sentenced on Wednesday.
Josh Duggar will serve 151 months in prison and 20 years of supervision. He will do his term in either Seagoville, Texas, or Texarkana, Texas, which has a s*x offender treatment program.
He will be required to register as a s** offender and participate in a treatment program for the next 20 years, not be permitted access to an internet device without prior approval, and be prohibited from having unsupervised contact with kids, including his children.
He will also be required to submit to any DNA collection requests and forbidden from consuming marijuana.
Josh Duggar's imprisonment sentence explored
Josh Duggar, 34, had no reaction when he discovered his fate. Anna Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar also did not appear to be affected.
In the pre-sentencing filing, prosecutors claimed that Duggar had a "deep-seated, pervasive, and violent s**ual interest in children." His legal team raised more than 20 objections to the report at the sentencing hearing.
Josh Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a detective in Little Rock, Arkansas, discovered child porn files shared by a computer traced back to him. According to investigators, Duggar downloaded the images, some of which included toddlers, onto a computer at a car dealership he owned in 2019.
Following reports that Josh, the oldest Duggar child from the TLC show had abused four of his sisters and a babysitter, TLC canceled the family's show in 2015. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said their son apologized for his wrongdoing, but he was forced to confront them again when the claims reappeared.
He then cheated on his wife and publicly apologised for it; but then months later, he also admitted to a p****graphy addiction. He completed an addiction treatment program.
Following a tip from a Duggar family acquaintance, authorities became aware of his alleged abuse in 2006 but determined that the statute of limitations on any potential prosecution had passed.
After publicly apologizing for undefined behavior, he quit as a lobbyist for the conservative Christian group Family Research Council.
Anna begged the court for pity on her husband in a letter dated March 7 so she may "consider rejoining us as a family again soon." Duggar and Anna have seven children together.
Ultimately, the jury agreed with the prosecution and found Duggar guilty. The prosecution said they were "extremely delighted" with the verdict, calling it an "important milestone" that illustrates that "no one is above the law, regardless of their status or renown."
"We plan to appeal at the appropriate time," Duggar's attorney Justin Gelfand stated.