What to Know
Joseph Duggar hasn’t been in contact with his four children since his March arrest. Days after he was hit with sexual assault charges, he and his wife, Kendra Duggar, were hit with child endangerment charges that were totally separate from the original incident that lead to his arrest. As Joseph’s case continues to play out in court, he’s hoping to be reunited with his kids … but it’s going to be a bit longer before that could happen, even after he and his lawyer filed a new court amendment this week.
Joseph wants the no contact order dropped.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Joseph filed to amend the no contact order keeping him from reuniting with his children on May 17. So far, he’s pled not guilty to the charge of lewd and lascivious behavior involving a minor less than 12 years old, along with an additional charge of lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older.
On March 31, Joseph was released from jail in Florida, where the alleged incident took place in 2020, on a $600,000 bond. The conditions of his release included that he make no contact with the victim, and that he have no unsupervised visits with anyone under the age of 18, his own kids included.
Meanwhile, Kendra’s no contact order has already been lifted.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images
Just days after Joseph was arrested, his wife, Kendra, was also taken into custody, and both she and Joseph were given separate charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, along with four counts of second-degree false imprisonment. Kendra was released the same day she was booked in Washington County, Arkansas, but part of the conditions of her release were that she not have contact with her kids.
While Kendra hasn’t released any statements about the situation herself, a source did tell Us Weekly that the charges came about during a “home study” conducted at Kendra and Joe’s residence after his arrest. “Apparently, they had two rooms where the lock of the doorknob was on the outside instead of inside. They arrested her and took her kids for that, saying it’s evidence that she wrongly detains her kids,” the source said.
Kendra’s order was lifted on April 17, and now, it sounds like Joseph is hoping the same will happen for him.
Joseph is due back in court in July.
It sounds like Joseph has a bit of a wait ahead of him to find out if a judge will lift his no contact order as well. Arkansas local news outlet KWNA reported that on May 18, a pretrial hearing was set for July 14 in Bay County, Florida, and the judge will rule on the amendment at that time.
Joseph and Kendra are both scheduled to appear in court for the child endangerment charges on August 10.
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