'19 Kids and Counting' star Joseph Duggar accused of molesting 9-year-old girl

Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News on Mar 19, 2026

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Joseph Duggar, who starred on the TLC reality show, “19 Kids and Counting,” has been arrested over allegations that he molested a 9-year-old girl six years ago during a vacation in Florida, according to authorities.

Duggar was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He was taken into custody in Arkansas on Wednesday evening, and he is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County.

The girl, who is now 14, reported the sexual assault Wednesday to authorities in Tontitow, according to a statement from the local police department. She said she was on vacation in 2020 with her family in Panama City Beach when Duggar touched her inappropriately on several occasions. At one point, Duggar, in his late 20s at the time, “asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket,” the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.

“During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs,” the statement continued.

The girl told investigators that Duggar “eventually apologized for his actions and the incidents stopped after the apology,” authorities said.

Duggar, now 31, was arrested after the victim participated in a forensic interview regarding her report of the prior sexual abuse. Her father also confronted the former reality star, who “allegedly admitted his actions to the father and Tontitown detectives,” according to authorities.

From 2008 to 2015, Duggar starred alongside his siblings and parents on “19 Kids and Counting,” a reality show chronicling the lives of the members of their conservative family in Arkansas. It ran for more than 200 episodes over the course of 10 seasons.

TLC canceled the series in 2015 after the eldest Duggar child, Josh, was accused of molesting several girls when he was a teenager. He was never criminally charged, though it was previously reported four of the five girls he abused were his younger sisters.

Josh also later admitted to using Ashley Madison to have an extramarital affair and later revealed he was participated in rehab for pornography addiction.

In December 2021, he was found guilty of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material and he was sentenced the following year to serve 12 and a half years in prison. He remains behind bars at FCI Seagoville in Texas and is slated for release in August 2032.