What to Know
In the span of just a few days, both Joseph Duggar and his wife, Kendra Duggar, have been arrested, and now, there’s yet another update on Joseph’s case. Footage of a video call that he made from jail has surfaced online, and at this point, it’s giving people more questions than answers — especially since it seems like Joe is on his own with this one, without his parents jumping in to save the day like many critics assumed they would.
The call was shared by a local Arkansas news outlet.
The footage seems to be taken from Washington County Jail and shared by 5News, and shows Joseph in a black and white striped jumpsuit as he calls someone — presumably a lawyer — who is familiar with his family.
“Hi there, this is Joe Duggar here,” his voice can be heard saying on the recording. “I’m over here at Washington County … I don’t know if my dad mentioned it to you or not, I didn’t know if we needed to talk sometime about things or how the process works over here on this side.”
The person on the other end of the call replies, “The only issue is … well, you’re there, you’re in custody pending the issue of a governor’s warrant by the state of Florida.”
The footage is now sparking a new round of speculation.
Since it’s not clear who Joseph is talking to on the phone, it sparked a discussion on Reddit between people trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Though many guessed that it was a lawyer, one user pointed out that it likely wasn’t the person who will actually be representing him in court, or a call like this would fall under client/attorney privilege and would not be released to the public.
Others thought this could be a sign that Jim Bob isn’t about to foot the bill to get him out of this one — even though he did appear to cover the legal fees for his oldest son Josh’s scandal, though he did end up with a conviction anyway.
Some, however, believe it’s actually the opposite, with one commenting, “No doubt Jim Bob is burning up the phone lines trying to get someone to call in a favor to convince Ron DeSantis to not issue that Governor’s Warrant.”
It could be a very long road ahead for Joseph and Kendra.
At this point, it seems like Joseph is still awaiting his extradition to Florida, where the alleged crime took place in 2020, and his charges of “lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 12 years old” could lead to him doing some pretty serious time behind bars.
Meanwhile, Kendra has been released on bail after her arrest on Friday, after she was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree and four counts of false imprisonment in the second degree — charges that have also been added to Joseph’s case. It’s not clear what’s next for her, either, or the four kids the couple shares.
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