Where’s Josh Duggar now? Will he end up in prison?

Celebrities have always been seen on a different level from other civilians. Their lives are seen as the epitome of the American Dream. They live a life of wealth, luxury, and glamour. We want to be like them, and we often look up to them. However, the curtain is pulled back every once in a while, revealing a darker side of them that we don’t expect. 

This is the story of 19 Kids and Counting’s Josh Duggar. Fans of the eldest of the nineteen children in the reality show and the rest of the family were disheartened to discover in 2015 that he was reported to have molested five underage girls when he was a teenager. That was the beginning of a continual saga that is still ongoing. Where’s Josh Duggar now?

Career & activism

Duggar was seventeen when he started appearing on the Discovery Channel in the reality show 19 Kids and Counting. As with most reality stars, his life was plagued with a lack of privacy, including his wedding and the birth of all three of his children documented on the show for viewing pleasure for audiences. 

Duggar was also very active in politics for the Republican party. His father, Jim Bob Duggar, was a two-term republican for the Arkansas House of Representatives. He worked alongside campaign teams for both Mike Huckabee & Rick Santorum during their presidential campaigns.

First sign of something more underneath

An article released in 2015 by In Touch Weekly recovered an old police report that Duggar had molested five underage girls between 2002 to 2003 when he was fourteen & fifteen-years-old. The five victims were a babysitter and four of his younger siblings. Duggar’s parents stated that they were made aware of the incidents, and he was disciplined at home. 

How the incidents were handled caused some backlash as neither his parents nor others aware of the situation notified child services. The only law enforcement official notified gave Duggar a stern talking to, and he was later convicted of child pornography himself, now serving a fifty-six-year sentence. 

Duggar was placed in a faith-based program to counsel him and returned to the family in 2003. By the time law enforcement was made aware, the statute of limitations had passed.

On June 5th, 2015, Josh Duggar’s sisters Jessa & Jill were interviewed by Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel’s The Kelly File, “I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, as some people are saying.” She went on to say, “that is so overboard and a lie really. . . I mean, people get mad at me for saying that, but I can say this because I was one of the victims”.

Where’s Josh Duggar now?

Are you wondering where’s Josh Duggar now considering his numerous crimes? Well, on April 29th, Duggar was arrested after a federal indictment alleges him of knowingly receiving pornographic images of children under twelve. His trial was initially set for July 6th but was rescheduled for November 30th. His defense team has filed five motions to get evidence suppressed, all of which have now been denied. 

The time for cooperating with prosecutors has come and gone, as they have now taken all plea deals off the table, and he will have to take his chances at trial. With his motions all being denied, the outlook doesn’t look good. If convicted, he could face up to twenty years in prison and hefty fines. 

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The fall from celebrity status has been a devastating one for Duggar and his family. While he and his wife put on brave faces for the cameras when they leave the courthouse, it may be more of a force of habit formed in years in the spotlight. Where’s Josh Duggar now? In a very precarious legal position.