Former 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar pleaded not guilty today to federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography — a not-so-shocking development that comes six years after revelations that he had sexually abused five minors, including four of his younger sisters, back when he was a teenager.
The 33-year-old Arkansas native has certainly seen a startling fall from grace since his family rose to fame on TLC, where cameras documented their lives as an exceptionally large fundamentalist Christian family who followed a religious homeschool curriculum, dressed modestly, and eschewed contact with the opposite sex before marriage.
Now Josh — whose wife Anna, 32, is currently pregnant with their seventh child — will face trial for ‘downloading child sex abuse material in 2019,’ marking the first time he has been charged with a crime despite formerly confessing to molesting his siblings.
Jailed: Former 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar pleaded not guilty today to federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography
Josh and his wife Anna are expecting baby number seven and already have Mackenzie, 11, Michael, nine, Marcus, seven, Meredith, five, Mason, three, and Maryella, one
The Duggar family’s first brush with fame came in 2004, when parents Jim Bob and Michelle — and their then 14 children — appeared in their first television special, 14 Children and Pregnant Again, on the Discovery Health Channel.
The Duggars projected a wholesome image, and soon starred in three more TV specials that aired in 2006 and 2007.
In 2008, TLC premiered 17 Kids and Counting, which would go on to be renamed twice to account for the births of the youngest Duggar kids: Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie.
During the specials and early episodes of the show, the Duggars shared details about their modesty standards and the strict rules they followed governing male and female behavior.
Girls and women in the family were expected to cover up most of their skin, dressing exclusively in dresses and skirts and layering extra shirts under tops that dipped to low.
In one episode, Michelle even had TLC blur her knees when they appeared on camera. In another, Jennifer — who was five or six years old at the time — was told by Jim Bob that her knee-length Hello Kitty dress, worn with tights, was too short and she needed to change.
The Duggar family starred in their first TV special in 2004 and went on to have three more — and their own TV show, 19 Kids and Counting
But even as they rose to fame as a ‘wholesome’ Christian family, they were hiding the secret that Josh had molested five minors
Responsible: Jim Bob and Michelle sent him for Christian counseling and didn’t talk to police about it until an anonymous tip forced their hand
They shared a family code word, ‘Nike,’ which would be uttered in the presence of an immodestly dressed woman — or an image of an immodestly dressed woman — to notify the boys to look down at their shoes.
Joy Anna, then just a little girl herself, demonstrated how it was her responsibility to cover the television screen to protect her brothers from seeing immodestly dressed women.
While filming, Josh got engaged to Anna Keller, and on September 26, 2008, the pair tied the knot. They spoke openly about following strict courting rules, sharing limited contact like side-hugs before their marriage.
They even shared their first kiss for the altar in a moment that was captured in an episode of 17 Kids and Counting.
Just a year later, in October 2009, they welcomed their first daughter, Mackynzie. Mackynzie was soon followed by Michael in 2011 and Marcus in 2013.
All the while, though, the family was hiding a dark secret: that eldest son Josh had a history of molesting girls that had started before their first TV special.
According to a 2006 police report unearthed by InTouch Weekly in 2015, Josh’s behavior was first discovered in March of 2002, when one of his youngest sisters went to Jim Bob ‘very upset and crying.’
The sister said that Josh had been sneaking into the shared girls’ bedroom and touching her breasts and genitals while she slept on four or five occasions. Once, she woke up while he was taking a blanket away from her.
While filming, Josh got engaged to Anna Keller, and on September 26, 2008, the pair tied the knot
Josh and Anna pictured with Mike Huckabee, who defended Josh after the molestation came to light in 2015
Josh then admitted to doing so when confronted by Jim Bob and was ‘disciplined,’ though Jim Bob didn’t reveal what the discipline entailed.
In March of 2003, ‘there was another incident,’ according to the police report, with Josh being accused by several minors of similar sexual touching. On one occasion, he was reading to a little sister on his lap and touched her ‘breasts and vaginal area. On another, he cornered one of his sisters in the laundry room and put his hand under her dress.
However, Jim Bob and Michelle did not initially go to the police, keeping the molestation allegations and Josh’s confessions a secret until a tip was made to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline about Josh’s behavior and forced their hand.
Finally speaking to police on Dec. 12, 2006, Jim Bob said when he learned about what his son was doing, he ‘met with the elders of his church and told them what was going on.’
They suggested a particular treatment program at Vista Hospital, but Jim Bob was concerned that Josh would be ‘exposed to other offenders and other things they did not want him exposed to.
Instead, they sent Josh to a Christian program that consisted of ‘hard physical work and counseling from March 17, 2003 to July 17, 2003.
Jim Bob and Michelle also told the local police that Josh had ‘apologized’ to his victims and said they had ‘forgiven’ him, and when he came home they believed the issue had been ‘resolved.’
After a police report documenting the abuse was unearthed, his sister Jessa, 28, identified herself as one of his vitims
Jill, 29, also came out as one of Josh’s victims. Jim Bob and Michelle also told the local police that Josh had ‘apologized’ to his victims and said they had ‘forgiven’ him
When Josh came home from the Christian counseling program, his parents had him talk to Arkansas State Trooper Jim Hutchens, who gave him a ‘very stern talk.’
Hutchens, 75, was later imprisoned on child pornography charges of his own, and has been in jail since 2007. He was sentences to 56 years.
When the police report describing Josh’s transgressions was made public in 2015, two of his sisters — Jill, 29, and Jessa, 28 — identified themselves as two of his victims. Later, in 2017, Jinger and Joy were identified as the other victims in a lawsuit.
Jim Bob, Michelle, Jill, and Jessa all sat down for an interview with Megyn Kelly to discuss what happened — and some viewers were left alarmed by the way the parents tried to minimize their son’s behavior.
‘He was still a kid, you know, and he was still a juvenile. He wasn’t an adult,’ Jim Bob said. ‘Kids will make their own choices.
‘[Josh] had gone in and just basically touched them over their clothes while they were sleeping,’ he went on, adding that there were ‘a couple incidents where he touched them under their clothes, but it was, like, a few seconds.
‘God can forgive [Josh] for these terrible things, I hope other people realize God can forgive them and also make them a new creature,’ he said.
He also seemed to imply that a brother molesting his sisters was common, saying: ‘We talked to other parents and different ones since then, a lot of families have said that they’ve had similar things happen in their families.’
‘He was still a kid, you know, and he was still a juvenile. He wasn’t an adult,’ Jim Bob told Megyn Kelly about Josh’s molestation of his siblings
‘I think we had one ray of hope, in that Josh had a tender conscience,’ Michelle said.
They also insisted that they had ‘put safeguards in our home’ to prevent something similar from happening again. Boys were not allowed to babysit or run off with girls during hide-and-seek, and ‘little ones don’t sit on big boys’ laps, or people you don’t know, or even family members, unless it’s your daddy,’ said Michelle.
The revelation that Josh had sexually abused his sisters certainly dominated headlines, but it wasn’t to be the last time he was in the spotlight year.
Months later, when hackers released information about account-holders for the adultery website Ashely Madison, Josh was found to be among them.
Soon after, he released a statement confessing not just to adultery but to a ‘secret addiction’ to pornography.
‘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,’ he wrote.
‘I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family.
‘I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust.
Anna was pregnant in 2015 when the molestation became public knowledge
Whoops! He was then discovered to have an account on the adultery website Ashley Madison
‘The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country, I was hiding my own personal failings. As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose to our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example.
‘I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time,’ he concluded.
Consequences: Josh lost his job at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., a conservative lobbying group against abortion and gay marriage
Porn star Danica Dillon then sued Josh for allegedly assaulting her during sex, but the lawsuit was later dropped.
The dual scandals led to TLC canceling the family’s show, 19 Kids and Counting. Josh also lost his job at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., a conservative lobbying group against abortion and gay marriage.
After, there was speculation about whether his wife, Anna, would leave him. Her brother Daniel bashed Josh, writing on social media: ‘Confessing and getting caught are two different things. You want to know what happens when you cover ur sin maybe you should go read ur bible instead of beating people over the head with it.’
He also said he told Anna that he would pay for her and her children to move in with him, but Anna declined.
In the midst of the scandals, they welcomed their fourth child, Meredith.
For some time, Josh was absent from social media — and went away to another Christian counseling program while his wife and children moved in with his parents.
But while his wife Anna publicly and privately forgave him — in addition to writing about ‘redemption’ on social media, she has since had several more children with him — Josh has allegedly not only continued his deviant behavior, but done much worse.
His wife, Anna, has stayed by his side and spoken out about ‘redemption’
They continued to reproduce and have had several more kids since 2015
Josh is frequently around his own young children, as well as his minor sisters and nieces and nephews
On Thursday, he was taken into custody in Springdale, Arkansas after turning himself in on charges of receiving and possessing material depicting the sexual abuse of children.
According to the indictment, he is alleged to have downloaded child sexual abuse material online in May 2019. Some of the child pornography material he is accused of possessing shows children under the age of 12.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
His arrest followed a Homeland Security raid on his now-closed car dealership, Wholesale Motorcars, in Springdale, Arkansas back in November 2019. He was not charged at the time.
He is also currently in the midst of a separate legal battle after a civil lawsuit was filed against him for real estate fraud.