{"id":549852,"date":"2026-03-20T21:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549852\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T21:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:55:10","slug":"josh-duggar-reacts-to-brother-josephs-arrest-for-child-molestation-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549852\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Duggar reacts to brother Joseph\u2019s arrest for child molestation – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of Joseph Duggar<\/a>\u2018s family members are speaking out after the TLC reality show star of 19 Kids and <\/a>Counting\u00a0<\/a>was\u00a0arrested on underage molestation charges<\/a> in Florida on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Josh Duggar<\/a>, Joseph\u2019s older brother, who is currently serving over 12 years in prison on child sexual abuse charges, has commented on the arrest via his lawyer, who exclusively told British tabloid The Daily Mail<\/a> that Josh understands the \u201cpainful reality\u201d of being falsely accused of a crime.<\/p>\n

Joseph Duggar, 31, was arrested for lewd and lascivious behaviour involving unlawful sexual activity with a minor, the Bay County Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a news release<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJoseph Duggar\u2019s mugshot has been released.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWashington County Sheriff’s Office\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cOn March 18, 2026, Bay County investigators were contacted by a detective with the Tontitown Police Department regarding a report of past sexual abuse,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe 14-year-old victim participated in a forensic interview, where she disclosed several incidents involving Duggar that occurred during a family vacation in Panama City Beach when she was 9-years-old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh\u2019s legal representation said he was also \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d to hear of his brother\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJosh understands the stigma of being accused,\u201d his lawyer said. \u201cHe understands how the targeting of a person for publicity can twist the truth into sensationalized fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh, the eldest of all 19 Duggar children, was accused of molesting four of his sisters and a babysitter starting in 2006. The allegations against him arose publicly in 2015 after it came to light that he had confessed to the alleged assaults and apologized in private.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJosh Duggar is seen in his mugshot on April 29, 2021.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWashington County Detention Center\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He later resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Months later, he also publicly apologized for cheating on his wife<\/a>\u00a0and admitted to having a pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.<\/p>\n

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Following his 2021 arrest, Josh was found guilty of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison in May 2022.<\/p>\n

Other family members speak out<\/p>\n

Jill Duggar Dillard<\/a>, one of Joseph Duggar\u2019s elder sisters, addressed the accusations in a family blog post<\/a> on Thursday, saying they were \u201cshocked\u201d to hear of her brother\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe first learned of anything related to his charges yesterday via a text from a friend who messaged us about the recent media reports of Joseph\u2019s arrest and his alleged confession to molesting a juvenile female in 2020. We are shocked and heartbroken,\u201d the post continued.<\/p>\n

Duggar Dillard went on to condemn her brother\u2019s alleged actions, assuring that her family supports \u201cthe rule of law and hope that justice will be achieved,\u201d adding that her family would support Duggar\u2019s wife and four children as they \u201cprocess and grieve everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged incident involving Joseph took place in 2020 while the family was staying at a Florida residence, the Bay County Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDuring this time, Duggar manipulated the victim\u2019s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim, who is now 14, told police the incidents stopped after Duggar eventually apologized for his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestigators discovered the victim\u2019s father confronted Duggar about these incidents on March 17th, 2026. Duggar admitted his actions to the victim\u2019s father and to Tontitown Detectives,\u201d police added.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Joseph\u2019s cousin, Amy Duggar, also commented on his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the recent allegations involving my cousin, Joseph Duggar, I am sickened, heartbroken and deeply angry,\u201d she said in a statement obtained by People<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first thoughts are with the victim, a child who deserved to be safe, protected and surrounded by people she could trust,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe courage it took for her to come forward, especially after years of carrying something so heavy, cannot be overstated. That bravery deserves to be honored above all else,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

The rest of the Duggar family has not publicly commented on Joseph\u2019s arrest as of this writing.<\/p>\n

\u2013With files from Global News\u2019 Katie Scott<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of Joseph Duggar\u2018s family members are speaking out after the TLC reality show star of 19 Kids…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[213147,49,48,75,213146,519],"class_list":["post-549852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-19-kids-and-counting","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-joseph-duggar","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}