Joseph Duggar’s most recent whereabouts have been revealed following his prison release.
“As far as I know, he is flying out of Panama City Beach airport with his father [Jim Bob Duggar],” Joseph’s attorney Albert Sauline told Us Weekly on Tuesday, March 31. “His father was in PCB but was not in the courtroom this morning.”
Joseph, 31, was released on Tuesday after a bail bondsman “posted on behalf of the family,” per Sauline.
Earlier on Tuesday, Duggar was in custody in Florida, per the Bay County Jail. The Counting On alum was arrested in Arkansas earlier this month on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior involving molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older.
According to records viewed by Us on Tuesday, Joseph entered a written plea of not guilty and requested a jury trial. Joseph was subsequently released on a $600,000 bond.
Joseph stands accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl in 2020 during a family trip to Florida. According to an affidavit obtained by Us, the alleged victim told a Arkansas’s Tontitown Police Department detective in a forensic interview that there were “several instances of sexual abuse” involving Joseph.
The girl recalled feeling “uncomfortable” and “confused” during the alleged incidents. She claimed that Joseph “apologized for his actions” and “the incidents stopped occurring.”
In addition to the child molestation allegations, both Joseph and his wife, Kendra Duggar, have been charged with four additional counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree and four counts of false imprisonment in the second degree. Kendra, 27, was arrested on the same charges earlier and subsequently released on a $1,470 bond.
A spokesperson for the Duggar family told Us in a statement, “[Kendra’s] is a misdemeanor charge totally unrelated to the Florida case.”
A source with knowledge of the case exclusively told Us that Kendra’s arrest “has nothing to do with Joseph’s” molestation charge.
“After his charge, they automatically do a home study if minors live there. They came to her house,” the insider said. “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.”
Joseph and Kendra tied the knot in 2017 following a brief engagement. The couple share four children: Garrett, Addison, Brooklyn and Justus.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
