Joseph Garrett Duggar, known for his role on Counting On, shared heartfelt family moments on Instagram four years before facing allegations of child molestation involving a 9-year-old.
Joseph, 31, and his wife, Kendra Duggar, launched a family Instagram account in February 2019, which they stopped updating in November 2021. Their last update came on November 3, 2021, marking their daughter Addison’s second birthday. The couple shares four children: Garrett David, 7, Addison Renee, 6, Brooklyn Praise, 5, and Justus, 3.
The couple expressed their love for their daughter in a November 2021 post, alongside family photos of Joseph with Addison. They wrote, “Happy Birthday sweet girl!!! We love seeing this girl’s sweet little personality blossom over the last two years! Looking forward to making many more memories.”
In 2021, the Duggar family’s Instagram activity was less frequent. They shared a family photo for the July 4th holiday and documented Joseph and Kendra’s fourth anniversary trip to Branson, Missouri, in September.
During their anniversary, Joseph and Kendra shared, “Finally posting pics from our anniversary trip🥰❤️🥰We so enjoyed seeing [stage show] Jesus at Sight and Sound in and doing SDC [Silver Dollar City theme park]. We had a blast.”
Us Weekly highlighted in September 2017 that the pair married in Arkansas, with Kendra’s father, Pastor Paul Caldwell, officiating. They first connected at church as teenagers, and Joseph proposed at his sister Joy-Anna Duggar’s wedding in May 2017.
The family, known from 19 Kids and Counting, has kept a low public profile in recent years. On March 18, Joseph was arrested by the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas on suspicion of child molestation.
Joseph faces charges of lewd and lascivious behavior involving molestation of a child under 12 and lewd conduct by a person 18 or older, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The Tontitown Police Department alerted Bay County investigators about an alleged past incident of sexual abuse. A 14-year-old alleged victim claimed Joseph abused her during a 2020 family trip to Panama City Beach, Florida, when she was 9.
The Bay County police stated in a press release, “The victim reported Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap. As the vacation continued, he also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket. During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals. Duggar would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs.”
According to the release, Joseph was confronted about the allegation and later apologized for his actions, after which the incidents ceased. Joseph is currently awaiting extradition to Bay County.
Us has reached out to the Duggar family for comment.
This incident follows the legal issues of Joseph’s older brother, Josh Duggar, who received a 12-year sentence in 2022 for receiving child sexual abuse material. Josh continues to maintain his innocence and is appealing his conviction while serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas.
Before his imprisonment, Josh admitted to “acting inexcusably” when a 2015 police report accused him of molesting five girls, including two of his sisters, during his teenage years.
In his statement at the time, Josh said, “I confessed [my actions] to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those
