7 Disturbing Claims Involving ’19 Kids’ Duggar Family

After the bombshell criminal charges. that were filed against two members of. the Duggars this past week, we are now doing a deep dive into this. clan and the dark allegations. surrounding this reality TV star family. From molestation accusations to. religious teachings to child pornography. to now charges of sexual abuse and false. imprisonment, let's discuss. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law &. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Well, after the bombshell arrests of two. members of the famous Duggar family, we. decided let's do a full deep dive into. the Duggars. Okay, what we know, the. allegations, the past, the shocking. details, that's what we're going to do. right now. Because we know this comes. after 31-year-old Joseph Duggar was. arrested on a Bay County, Florida. warrant on charges of molesting a then. 9-year-old girl back in 2020 during a. family vacation. He's been charged with.

lewd and lascivious behavior. This is. molestation of a victim less than 12. years old and lewd and lascivious. behavior conducted by a person 18 years. or older. And then days later, both he. and his wife, Kendra, 27 years old, were. hit with charges out in Arkansas. Four. counts of endangering the welfare of a. minor in the second degree and four. counts of false imprisonment. They have. four kids together. Now, if I had to. take a guess at what happened here, we'll talk more about it, it seems that. after those initial charges he's been. hit with, they do an investigation,

check in what's going on at the home, and something at the home is what. spurred these new charges that are. facing both of them. And by the way, when we talk about the show 19 Kids and. Counting, it had different variations of. it, but it was a show that ran from 2008. to 2015. And that is when a dark. accusation clouded over the show, led to. its cancellation, and eventually we're. even talking criminal charges that. resulted. Now, we're going to get into. to more in a little bit, but I want to. put all of this into context regarding. the overall family in this deep dive.

Now, remember, this all started with Jim. Bob and Michelle Duggar, married since. 1984, the parents on the TLC show 19. Kids and Counting. Well, first it was 17. Kids and Counting, then it was 18 Kids. and Counting, began in 2008, and then. followed the conservative Christian. families' lives. Homeschooling, specialized outfits, it was a whole. different world. And yes, 19 kids, 10. boys, nine girls, all named beginning. with the letter J. It's a massively.

popular show, by the way. 2014, to give. you an idea, this is the year before the. show was canceled, it was reported that. the season premiere that year, at that. time, averaged 3.29 million viewers. Think about how many people that is. Now, it's interesting, there was a. documentary that came out a few years. back on Amazon Prime, it was called. Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family. Secrets. And aside from the scandal that. plagued the family, which we'll get. into, one of the things that the. documentary focused on was the teachings.

that motivated or guided the family. IBLP, Institute in Basic Life. Principles. This was apparently led by. Bill Gothard, who by the way has been. accused of sexually harassing and. assaulting dozens of women, even though. he's denied those accusations. But. Gothard is a guy who preached to. millions these teachings of a. male-dominated life, religion, strict. lifestyle where you abandon, you know, seemingly these vices like music and TV. and dating and drinking. And the key here in the documentary was.

illuminated or illustrated by the. co-director Olivia Crist, who said that. the Duggars were {quote} the. front-facing image of this insidious. organization, her opinion. So, it really. focused on fundamental Christianity, homeschooling, seemingly these cruel forms of punishing. children, how others spoke out about the. teachings, that the Duggars were used as. a way to normalize or clean up what this. lifestyle was like. Now, Jim Bob, okay, we'll start with him. Former state.

legislator who at one point ran for US. Senate, also state Senate. People. magazine reported that in 2020 they. started him and his wife started. flipping houses in Arkansas. Not really. in the public eye that much anymore. And. it should be noted that as of 2024, they. were grandparents to 33 kids including. three on the way. Pretty unbelievable. Now, speaking of family, here's what we. got. Josh Duggar, married Anna Duggar, seven. kids. Now, things took a very disturbing. turn when he was accused of molesting.

girls in 2002 and 2003 including two of. his own sisters. These allegations came. out in 2015. He was ultimately arrested, charged, and. then convicted not for that, but in 2022. in connection with possession and. receipt of child pornography charges. even though that possession charge was. vacated by a judge. And he was sentenced. to 12 and 1/2 years in prison. I'm going. to talk about that a little bit more, but that is a big aspect of this story. You have John David Duggar, his twin. sister Jana Duggar. John David married.

Abby Grace Burnett. They have three kids. together. Jana married Stephen Wissmann. They have one child together. Jill. Duggar, married to Derrick Dillard. They. set up they were apparently set up by. Jim Bob. Three children together, sadly. lost a daughter in a pregnancy. complication. By the way, here's. something to note. Jim Bob and. Michelle's fifth child, Jessa Duggar, married Ben Seewald. They apparently met. through courting. So, you're going to. hear this sometimes. And the best way to. describe it, I think, is the way Jim Bob.

had described what courting is. Quote, "Courting is getting to know each other. in a group setting, both families. spending time together, and the couple. setting goals together to determine if. they're meant to marry. With dating, a. couple will often pair up alone, and. that sometimes leads to a more physical. relationship." It's a little bit of. difference there. Uh six kids together, by the way. By the way, Jill and Jessa. also starred in their own show, Jill and. Jessa, and then another show called. Counting On that features other members. of the Duggar family. Uh you have Jinger. Duggar married Jeremy uh Vuolo. So,

you're talking ministry work, courting, three kids. Uh we talked about Joseph. and Kendra. We're going to get into a. little bit more about their charges in a. minute. You have Josiah Duggar married. Lauren Swanson, three kids. Joy-Anna. Duggar, ninth sibling, married Austin. Forsyth, three kids. Got another pair of. twins, uh Jedidiah and Jeremiah Duggar. Jedidiah married uh Katie Nakatsu, four. kids. Jeremiah married to Hannah. Wissmann, her brother is Jana's husband, as I mentioned before. So, they have. three kids. Jason Duggar, 12th child,

married Maddie Grace. James Duggar, the. 13th sibling, not married as of yet, not. publicly courting anyone as far as we. can tell. Uh Justin Duggar married to. Claire Spivey or Spivey. Uh Jackson. Duggar, 15th child. Johanna Duggar, 16th. child. Jennifer Duggar, who was at one. point the baby of the family born in. 2007. And then you round it out with Jordan. Grace Duggar born in 2008, and Josie. Duggar born in 2009. All right, real quick. I'm sure you've. seen all the headlines about how so many.

Americans are struggling with debt right. now, right? But then it shows up in your. own numbers with rising balances and. fees and minimum payments stretching out. for years. Doesn't need to stay that. way, though. Today's sponsor PDS Debt. has helped hundreds of thousands escape. debt, reduce what they owe, and take. back control. So, whether it's credit. cards, personal loans, medical bills, PDS Debt has customized options to help. you pay off debt faster. There's no. minimum credit score required. They look. beyond the numbers and they design. personalized plans to help put money. back where it belongs, in your pocket.

Also, A+ rated by the Better Business. Bureau. Yeah, every month you wait, it's. going to cost you more, but your way out. starts right now. When the numbers are. clear, act. Take back control in 30. seconds. Get your free personalized. assessment and the best option for you. at pdsdebt.com/sidebar. That's pdsdebt.com/sidebar. pdsdebt.com/sidebar. But I got to go back to Josh. Josh back in 2015. released a statement to people. regarding these molestation accusations.

He said, quote, "12 years ago as a young teenager, I. acted inexcusably for which I am. extremely sorry and deeply regret. I. hurt others including my family and. close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took. several steps to help me address the. situation. We spoke with the authorities. where I confessed my wrongdoing and my. parents arranged for me and those. affected by my actions to receive. counseling. I understood that if I. continued down this wrong road that I. would end up ruining my life.".

Now it was reported that Jim Bob and. Michelle, the parents here, knew about. this. Knew about Josh's allegations of. molesting his own sisters and in fact. Jim Bob and Michelle said in a statement. at the time, "Josh has resigned from his. position at the Family Research Council. as a result of the accusations becoming. public, but his family has stood behind. him.". There was reporting that Jim Bob and. Michelle knew about Josh's allegations. of molesting his own sisters. And now. that leads to a statement that they put. out. Said, quote, "Back 12 years ago our. family went through one of the most.

difficult times of our lives. When Josh. was a young teenager, he made some very. bad mistakes and we were shocked. We had. tried to teach him right from wrong. That dark and difficult time caused us. to seek God like never before." But you. go back to that Amazon documentary, why. you see accusations like this within the. IBLP movement. Heather Heath, who is an. ex-IBLP member, said, "You can't exist. without being accused of tempting a man. to attack you." And then there was this.

statement from Josh Pease, a pastor. journalist, spoke out in in series. "The. Duggar family is not a bizarre. fascination. It is a horrifying glimpse. of a story that was told over and over. and over again in so many different. families. And you know what else happened? The two. sisters who were accused of being. molested, Jill Dillard, Jessa Seewald, they identified themselves as the ones. who were abused. They spoke to then Fox. News' Megyn Kelly. Jessa Jessa said what.

her brother did was very wrong, but that. the reactions against him were going too. far. Quote, quote, I do want to speak up. in his defense against people who are. calling him a child molester or. pedophile or rapist, some people are. saying. I'm like, that is so overboard. and a lie, really. I mean, people get. mad at me for saying that, but I can say. this because I was one of the victims. Now, Jim Bob had apparently admitted at. one point that he had placed safeguards. up to protect his daughters from Josh. after what he found out what had.

happened, but it wasn't foolproof, saying nothing ever happened in the. girls' bedrooms after that. So, we had. safeguards that protected them from. that, but there was another incident, two different instances where girls were. laying on the couch. Now, 19 Kids and. Counting was taken off the air after. these accusations came forward. And at. one point, the police report was made. public by In Touch back in 2015. And reportedly, Josh, when you look at. the this report, reportedly, Josh had confessed to his father.

multiple times, three separate. occasions. And the revelation that the. Duggars allegedly waited at least 16. months before reaching out to. authorities. And In Touch discussed that. the reason for there not being charges. in connection with this was that there. was a statute of limitations issue, that. this ran by 2006 when the investigation. started, and that Jim Bob and Michelle. could have been criminally charged and. face charges in prison for not doing. anything. But again, nothing resulted. And when you look at the wording of the. report, it apparently says, quote, James.

said that in March of 2002, redacted. Josh, who had just turned 14, came to. him very upset and crying. James said. that redacted Josh had told him that he. had been sneaking into redacted his. sister's room at night and had been. touching redacted his sisters on the. genital areas while they were sleeping. And the report details that Josh went. from sister to sister, stating, apparently, all of the girls were. sleeping in a common room at this time.

And then you go to what Josh was. ultimately convicted of. So, this is. from the ICE website, how he was. sentenced, do I mention, you know, over. 12 years in prison without the. possibility of parole and one count of. receiving child sexual abuse material. following an investigation that was. conducted by the Homeland Security. Investigations of Fayetteville. And it. goes to say, quote, according to court. documents and evidence presented at. trial, Joshua James Duggar, 34, repeatedly downloaded and reviewed. images and videos depicting the sexual. abuse of children, including images of. prepubescent children and depictions of.

sadistic abuse. In addition to the 151. month sentence, Duggar must serve 20. years supervised release, register as a. sex offender, and pay $50,000 in fines. Duggar, a former reality television. personality who appeared with his family. on the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, installed a password-protected partition. on the hard drive of his desktop. computer at his used car lot in. Springdale to avoid pornography. detecting software on the device. It. goes to a knowledge component. He then.

accessed the partition to download child. sexual abuse material from the internet. multiple times over the course of 3 days. in May of 2019. Again, goes to a lack of. accident. The password for the partition. was the same one he used for other. personal and family accounts, so you're. seeing how it's tied back to him. Duggar. downloaded the material, used the dark. web and online file sha- file sharing. software, viewed it, and then removed it. from his computer. Law enforcement in Arkansas detected. Duggar's activity during an undercover. investigation involving the online file.

sharing program, subsequently searched. his car lot in November of 2019 and. seized Duggar's desktop computer as well. as other evidence. Significant evidence. was found that pointed to Duggar's. presence at the times of the offenses. including pictures that Duggar took on. his phone that geolocated at or near the. car lot. So, really identifying him as. the one who used these devices. Duggar. also sent multiple timestamp text. messages to various individuals that. indicated he was at the car lot at the. relevant times. Again, tying him to the.

access. The messages were sent and the. iPhone pictures were created at times. within minutes of when the child sexual. abuse material was downloaded or. displayed on the desktop computer. Additionally, he was the only paid. employee on the lot at those times. On. December 9th, 2021, a federal jury in. the Western District of Arkansas. convicted Duggar of receiving and. possessing material depicting minors. engaged in sexually explicit conduct. And again, he's now serving a sentence. at a low-security facility out in Texas, set to be released in 2032. Let's go.

back to Joseph and Kendra, okay? Full. circle. March 18th, the Bay County Sheriff's. Office announced that they were charging. 31-year-old Joseph Duggar, again, the. Duggar's seventh child, with lewd and. lascivious behavior. Joseph and his. family, wife Kendra, the four children, they were living in Arkansas. The. Sheriff's Office said in a statement, quote, "On March 18th, 2026, Bay County. investigators were contacted by a. detective with the Tontitown Police. Department regarding a report of past. sexual abuse. The 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. According to. the investigation, the incidents took. place in 2020 while the family was. staying at a residence on Danny Drive. The victim reported Duggar repeatedly. asked her to sit on his lap. As the. vacation continued, he also asked her to. sit next to to on a couch and covered. them with a blanket. During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim's. underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his. hands on her thighs. The victim stated.

Duggar eventually apologized for his. actions and the incident stopped after. the apology. Investigators discovered. the victim's father confronted Duggar. about these incidents on March 17th, 2026. Duggar admitted his actions to the. victim's father and to Tontitown. detectives. Duggar was arrested out of. state and charged with lewd and. lascivious behavior. Duggar is currently. awaiting extradition to Bay County. Now, regarding that alleged admission to the. detective and the victim's father over. the phone, Joseph also allegedly, quote,

admitted his intentions were not pure. That's according to the affidavit. If. that's true, if that can come into. evidence, that is a strong piece of. evidence, particularly when there might. not be forensic material, right? Or. video footage, but you do have the. account there and now an apparent. admission. By the way, I did a whole. episode about this with Dave Aronberg, former Palm Beach County State Attorney, about what defenses could be mounted, the strength of this case, what we. should be looking out for. You can check. it out. It's on our Long Crime YouTube. channel. But, the video from Washington.

County, we have this. Kind of gives us a. bird's-eye view of Duggar getting. booked, the angles of officers searching. him, getting his information into the. jail system. Take a look. >> Going to be going to need to see your. pockets. >> Uh, no. >> All right, Duggar, slowly get out of the. vehicle. >> No, nothing here. >> No, hold on. Duggar, did I think I said. if I had anything on you? >> Pockets. >> You said no in your pockets. I mean, you. got to be You got somewhere else. >> All right. >> Any injuries? >> Uh,

>> Well, I don't have anything to trade. >> You been here before? >> Um, not in this town. >> Let me That's I think I got a. My brother went to. That was the first case this place. stopped training. you Pepper spray that. was over there. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. >> What's your name? >> Officer Duggar. >> Let me get you something. >> Uh, he has a phone for his mom and dad.

here. >> Oh. >> Is there training here? >> Yes. >> He is hard telling us right now. >> I don't know what to do. >> All right, remember let's lift him up. for a little bit and then we'll help him. up for a second. >> Uh.

>> And this officer didn't know what kind. of clothes he was wearing. >> What's that? >> They didn't know what kind of clothes he. was wearing. >> Um. >> I'm not exactly sure if he's wearing a. >> You don't have to tell me. >> Yeah, I know. >> I'll do whatever you want, okay? >> Thanks. >> I want to talk to somebody about my.

phone and my keys. All right, get in the back of the car. and we'll see what's going on back. there. >> All right. >> While this was going on, days later what. happens? Authorities in Arkansas. announced that Joseph and his wife,

27-year-old Kendra, were hit with. charges. The Tontitown police said on. Facebook, "As a result of the continuing. investigation, additional charges have. have filed in this case against Joseph. Duggar and Kendra Duggar. Arrest. warrants have been issued and served for. the following misdemeanor offenses. through district court. Misdemeanor, not. a felony, right? Max sometimes 1 year in. jail. So, it's a lesser crime, but still. a crime nonetheless or alleged crime. You have four counts of endangering the. welfare of a minor second degree and.

four counts of false imprisonment second. degree. And this remains and they can. indicate that this remains an active and. ongoing investigation. By the way, I. should also tell you that Arkansas law. strictly limits information that may be. released in cases involving minors and. other sensitive circumstances to protect. the integrity of the investigation and. the privacy of those involved. No. further details will be provided at this. time. That's the point. What what led to. this, right? So, Kendra we know was. released on bond, but why these charges? Well, here's the part. Law enforcement.

hasn't said for sure what led to this. I've just mentioned why. However, there. was an alleged source, apparently close. to the family, told People magazine that. it had to do with the locks on the kids'. doors in the house. Quote, I can tell. you the arrest was a result of a home. inspection and the door locks being on. the exterior of the doors. A. spokesperson for the family said that. what Kendra is being charged with is. totally unrelated to the felony charges.

that Joseph faces in Florida. Having. said that, it does make me wonder. if because of what him being charged. there again was an investigation to see. what was at the house. Spokesperson told. People she's not suspected or accused of. participating in his alleged crime. Now, there've been some statements from the. family. For example, Jinger spoke out. about the arrest on her Jinger and. Jeremy podcast saying, "I mean, it has been such a long week. It's been. one of those weeks that feels like years. and I did not think my heart could break. like it has this week. The pain and.

heartbreak that we've had over this and. just thinking of how it's affected so. many ads just unthinkable, so hard and. painful on many levels. Jill Duggar and. her family spoke out on a Dillard family. blog saying, "We were shocked yesterday. evening to learn of Joe's brother, Joseph Duggar's arrest. We are shocked and heartbroken.". The message continued, "We strongly. condemn abuse. We support the rule of. law and hope that justice will be. achieved. Our hearts go out to the. innocent juvenile victim of this. unspeakable crime and her family. We.

pray God gives her strength, comfort, and hope and that she's able to get all. the help and support she needs and. deserves in the days ahead." Joseph's. older brother, Josh, who I talked about. before, apparently spoke out about the. situation from behind bars through his. attorney, told Us Weekly, "Josh Duggar. does not know the details of the claims. that have been made against his brother, Joseph, but he knows the media frenzy. that any incident regarding his family. creates. He feels for his brother. because everything is amplified out. proportion by the media interest in his. family. This makes the pain of the.

criminal justice process exponentially. worse. Josh prays for his brother and he. hopes that he can stay strong. He too. has felt the crushing wave of accusation. that is powered by the media spectacle. to which his family is subjected." As. for Joseph, he apparently waived. extradition. He's going to be headed to. Florida to face those felony charges and. this is according to the Washington. County Sheriff's Office. We'll see what. comes next. That's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast,

Spotify, wherever you should get your. podcast. You can also check us out on. NBC's [music]. Peacock as well. If you want to follow. me, Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse. Watters Primetime, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. I'll see you next. time, everybody.