What to Know
Former 19 Kids and Counting star Joseph Garrett Duggar has been arrested and charged with a crime involving a 9-year-old girl, according to reports. The former reality star has been charged with “Lewd and Lascivious conduct with a Minor,” the Bay County Sheriff’s Office reported on March 18, 2026.
According to the sheriff’s office, they were contacted by the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas to report past sexual abuse involving a young girl who is now 14 years old.
The teen victim participated in a forensic interview with the authorities.
According to a notice shared on Facebook, the young girl was only 9 years old at the time of the alleged crime. In the interview, the authorities learned that “several incidents involving Duggar [had] occurred during a family vacation in Panama City Beach when she was 9 years old.”
The alleged incident took place in 2020 during a vacation in Florida. At the time, Duggar would have been around 25 years old.
The investigation outlines several alleged incidents during that vacation.
“The victim reported Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap,” the notice shared to Facebook reads. “As the vacation continued, he also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket.”
The girl shared that more happened during that time, which escalated the assault. “The victim stated Duggar eventually apologized for his actions, and the incidents stopped after the apology,” the statement continued.
The young girl’s dad confronted Duggar about the disclosure.
The report explains that the victim’s dad approached Duggar about what happened in 2020 on March 17, 2026, and, according to the report posted to Facebook, “Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown Detectives.”
Duggar was then arrested out of state, charged with “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.” He is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County, the notice reads, which was confirmed by People.
Duggar is now the second sibling of the famous 19 Kids and Counting family to be charged with a sexual assault.
If you know anything about the Duggar family, who rose to fame on TLC back in the day, Duggar’s older brother, Josh Duggar, is currently serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence after being found guilty of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material following a trial in 2021.
In 2015, it was reported that Josh Duggar had confessed to molesting multiple young girls when he was a young adult, including two of his sisters, Jill Duggar Dillard and Jessa Duggar Seewald.
Josh Duggar is currently serving out his sentence at FCI Seagoville in Seagoville, Texas, with a release date currently set for August 2032. He shares seven kids with his wife, Anna Duggar.
Joseph Garrett Duggar married Kendra Caldwell in 2017, and the two have three children together.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, the National Sexual Assault Hotline provides confidential 24/7 support. Call 800-656-HOPE (4673) or chat online at RAINN.
