Jana Duggar, the sister of former reality television star Josh Duggar who was recently convicted in a separate criminal case, has been charged with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, Arkansas court records showed Friday.
Jana Duggar, 31, pleaded not guilty through an attorney on Sept. 23, the court docket shows. The alleged violation happened Sept. 9, it states. A trial by judge is scheduled for Jan. 10.
The attorney listed on the docket as Jana Duggar’s counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did an associate. Representatives for the Duggar family did not immediately respond, either.
Details of the case were sealed.
In a 2016 opinion that predates the allegation, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said details of a “child maltreatment investigation” can be withheld from the public in the interest of protecting the minor involved.
Such a charge as the one faced by Jana Duggar would generally include the allegation that a defendant engaged “in conduct creating a substantial risk of serious harm to the physical or mental welfare of a person known by the actor to be a minor,” according to Arkansas law.
Jana Duggar faces up to three months behind bars and a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted, according the Arkansas Sentencing Commission’s standard punishment range for such a charge.
On Thursday, a federal jury in Fayetteville, Arkansas, found Josh Duggar, 33, guilty of downloading and possessing child sex abuse images on his work computer in May 2019. There is no evidence that the allegations against Jana Duggar are related to his case.
Josh Duggar faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count when he’s sentenced. His legal team, which includes Justin Gelfand, Ian Murphy, and Travis Story, said in a statement to NBC News that it intends to appeal the decision.
The court docket in Jana Duggar’s case shows her address, in a community served by the Springdale, Arkansas post office, is the same as one listed for Josh Duggar and multiple other people with the Duggar family name.
Josh Duggar and Jana Duggar were featured on the TLC network show, “19 Kids and Counting,” which ran from 2008 and 2015. The show chronicled the lives of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children.
The show was filmed at a multigenerational Duggar residence in Arkansas.