Reality TV star Joseph Duggar waives extradition, will face a child molestation charge in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Former reality TV star Joseph Duggar on Friday waived his right to an extradition hearing in Arkansas, which set in motion his transfer to Florida to face a child molestation charge.

Duggar, 31, was arrested Thursday in Tontitown, Arkansas, where he lives with his family. Authorities in Bay County, Florida, now have 30 days to transfer him from the jail in Washington County, Arkansas, authorities said.

Joseph Duggar is charged with lewd and lascivious behavior on a child under 12 years old, according to an arrest affidavit from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Panama City, Florida.

His arrest comes almost five years after his older brother Josh was convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images. The brothers and their family starred in the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” which was canceled after Josh Duggar’s arrest.

Tontitown police officers contacted sheriff’s deputies in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, saying they had interviewed a 14-year-old girl who told them that Duggar had molested her several times during a family trip to Panama City Beach when she was age 9, the affidavit said.

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The child’s father confronted Duggar about the abuse this week, and the father said Duggar admitted to it, the affidavit said. Police officers in Tontitown had the father call Duggar with a detective on the line, and he again admitted to the actions.

There was no online court docket in Florida for Duggar on Friday. Nobody responded inquiries made Thursday and Friday on the Duggar family media request website.

The Tontitown Police Department said in a statement Thursday that the investigation remains open. The police department, located in a 4,300-person town in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas, deferred further questions to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” followed the lives of devout Baptists Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children, all of whose names began with the letter “J.”

TLC canceled the show in 2015 following allegations that Josh Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Josh Duggar’s parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized.

He was sentenced in 2022 to about 12 1/2 years in prison on one count each of receiving and possessing images portraying child sexual abuse.

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Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.