What We Know About Charges Against Joseph and Kendra Duggar: Are Kendra’s Charges Connected to Sex Abuse Case?

What We Know About Charges Against Joseph and Kendra Duggar: Are Kendra's Charges Connected to Sex Abuse Case?

Joseph and Kendra Duggar were both arrested in Arkansas and are each facing criminal charges

People Joseph and Kendra DuggarCredit: Washington County Sheriff's Department (2)

NEED TO KNOW

  • Joseph was initially charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years in Florida before Arkansas authorities subsequently charged him with child endangerment and false imprisonment

  • Kendra also faces the same Arkansas charges in a case sources say is not connected to Joseph's Florida case

Former19 Kids and CountingstarJoseph Duggaris facing accusations that he molested a 9-year-old girl in 2020, while he and his wife,Kendra, are also charged with child endangerment in what police have said are unrelated accusations.

Joseph, who lives with his family in Arkansas, was initially charged in Florida with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years, the Bay County Sheriff's Office.

According to the sheriff's office, Joseph is accused of molesting the girl while on vacation with her family in Panama Beach City, Fla., in 2020.

"As the vacation continued, [Joseph] also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket," the sheriff's office alleged. "During this time, Joseph manipulated the victim's underwear and grazed her genitals. He would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs."

Police alleged that the former reality star confessed to the allegations after being confronted by the girl's father.

Joseph was arrested in Washington County, Ark., on March 18 and will need to be extradited to Florida to face charges there.

Two days after Joseph's arrest, police in Tontitown, Ark., said that he and Kendra were each being charged with four counts ofendangering the welfare of a minorand four counts of false imprisonment.

Kendra was arrested on March 20 and was subsequently released after posting bond. Joseph is still being held in Washington County, Ark., jail awaiting extradition.

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A source close to the investigation tells PEOPLE the Arkansas charges against both Joseph and Kendra are unrelated to the charge Joseph faces in Florida.

A spokesperson for the Duggars further said that Kendra is not accused or suspected in relation to Joseph's Florida case and that her arrest had nothing to do with it.

A source close to the Duggar family tells PEOPLE Kendra and Joseph were arrested on the child endangerment and false imprisonment charges after investigators allegedly found locks on the exterior of doors in their home. In 2015, Duggar family members said their parents installed locks on bedroom doors as a safeguard after Josh Duggar admitted to molesting his sisters.

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Joseph's older brother Josh Duggar is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in Texas after he was convicted ofreceiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conductin federal court in 2021.

Joseph is a father of four children and has been married to Kendra since 2017.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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