Joseph Garrett Duggar, who starred on the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” was arrested Wednesday after he was accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl six years ago during a vacation in Florida.
The 31-year-old is accused of lewd and lascivious behavior — molestation of a victim less than 12 years-old — and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said in a news release.
He was arrested by police in Tontitown, Arkansas, and is awaiting extradition to Bay County, which covers Panama City.
Tontitown police said in statement that they received a report of a sexual abuse earlier Wednesday and reported it to the Bay County Sheriff’s Department, as the alleged incident had occurred there.
In an interview, the now 14-year-old girl told police that Duggar allegedly touched her inappropriately on several occasions during a family vacation in Panama City Beach in 2020, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.
The girl said Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap, the sheriff’s office said. During the course of the vacation, Duggar also asked the girl to sit next to him on a couch and used a blanket to cover the both of them, the victim told police, after which he allegedly touched her genitals and rubbed his hands on her thighs.
The victim said the incidents stopped after Duggar eventually apologized, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Duggar family and TLC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
The sheriff’s office said the girl’s father confronted Duggar about the alleged abuse on Tuesday. «Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown Detectives,» the office said.
Tontitown police said officers received a warrant by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 3 p.m. Wednesday for Duggar’s arrest.
The Duggar family rose to fame on the hit TLC show «19 Kids and Counting,» which aired for 10 seasons from 2008 to 2015 and followed the home life of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children.
The show was axed in 2015 following revelations that the eldest son, Josh Duggar, had molested five children, including four of his sisters.
Josh Duggar was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in federal prison in 2022 for receiving and possessing child sex abuse images.
