Former Reality Star Josh Duggar Sentenced To 12+ Years In Prison For Child Pornography

Former Reality TV star Josh Duggar has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for child pornography. Duggar returned to federal court on Wednesday and was sentenced to 151 months. He faced up to 20 years in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

The former “19 Kids & Counting” star was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. 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.

Duggar’s parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized. After the allegations resurfaced in 2015, Duggar apologized publicly for unidentified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Months later, he publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and for pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.

In seeking a 20-year sentence, prosecutors cited the graphic images, the ages of the children involved, as well as court testimony about the alleged abuse of Duggar’s sisters.

Duggar’s past behavior “provides an alarming window into the extent of his sexual interest in children that the Court should consider at sentencing,” federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

Prosecutors also noted that Duggar’s computer had been partitioned to evade accountability software that had been installed to report to his wife activity such as porn searches, according to experts.

Duggar has maintained that he’s innocent and that he intends to appeal, his attorneys wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks denied Duggar’s request for an acquittal or a new trial.