![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ce9d0ecf9c7198e3397668897b32d22e.jpeg\"\/)
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Joseph Duggar, 31 (Courtesy: Bay County, Florida Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/p>\n
He was booked into Bay County, Florida, Jail on March 31 and released later that day after his initial court appearance on a $600,000 bond.<\/p>\n
Before Monday\u2019s hearing, Prosecutor Joao Paulo Ferreira was assigned to Duggar\u2019s case to represent the State of Florida.<\/p>\n
What happened in Monday\u2019s hearing?<\/p>\n
Duggar did not appear in court, and his attorney, Albert Sauline, appeared virtually.<\/p>\n
Judge Brantley Clark set a pretrial hearing for July 14 at 9 a.m. in the Bay County Circuit Court.<\/p>\n
Clark said Duggar\u2019s motion to amend the no-contact order regarding unsupervised contact with minors, so he can see his own children, will be heard during the pretrial hearing.<\/p>\n
Fayetteville man sentenced for leading Arkansas State Police on deadly pursuit <\/a><\/p>\n A not guilty plea was also formally entered on Monday. Duggar entered a written plea on March 29, two days before his initial court appearance in Florida.<\/p>\n Case background<\/p>\n The investigation began on March 18 when Bay County investigators were contacted by a Tontitown police detective regarding a report of past sexual abuse. The alleged victim told forensic interviewers the incidents occurred during a family vacation in Panama City Beach in 2020, when she was under 10 years old, at a rental home on Danny Drive, according to Bay County authorities.<\/p>\n She alleged Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap and, as the vacation continued, asked her to sit beside him on a couch beneath a blanket, during which he allegedly touched her inappropriately over and beneath her clothing on multiple occasions. Florida investigators allege the behavior stopped after Duggar apologized.<\/p>\n The day before investigators were contacted, the victim\u2019s father confronted Duggar, who reportedly admitted the allegations in a phone call with a Bay County deputy and later repeated them to Tontitown detectives, according to an affidavit.<\/p>\n Duggar was being held in the Washington County Detention Center<\/a> alongside his wife, Kendra Duggar. Kendra Duggar was released less than two hours after being booked on a $1,470 bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Duggars are still facing four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment out of Tontitown<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both have pleaded not guilty<\/a> and are scheduled to appear in court on August 10.<\/p>\n Joseph Duggar is the seventh child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the Arkansas couple known for the long-running TLC reality franchise, and also appeared in the spin-off series \u201cCounting On,\u201d which documented his courtship and marriage to Kendra Caldwell.<\/p>\n