(CMR) Former reality TV star Joshua Duggar was taken into custody Thursday after a federal jury convicted him of downloading and possessing child pornography in Arkansas, USA.
The jury in Fayetteville found Duggar (33) guilty on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count when he’s sentenced, the Associated Press reported. Duggar is expected to be sentenced in four months.
Duggar and his large Arkansas family starred on TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” until the network canceled the show in 2015 following revelations that he had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired, AP reported.
Duggar reportedly confessed to the fondling to his parents and apologized. He also apologized publicly for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
According to AP, Duggar later apologized for a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife, calling himself “the biggest hypocrite ever.”
In the child porn case, the judge ruled that jurors could hear testimony about how in 2003, Duggar admitted to a family friend that he had molested four girls. Federal authorities began investigating after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar.
In May, a federal agent testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.
Duggar’s attorney argued that someone else downloaded or uploaded the images onto Duggar’s computer.
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