Joseph Duggar released on $600,000 bond after pleading not guilty to molestation charges

Key Points

• Joseph Duggar was released from a Florida jail Tuesday afternoon after pleading not guilty to child molestation charges.

• The former reality star was released on $600,000 bond hours after appearing before a judge. He is due back in court April 20.

• On March 18, Joseph was arrested and charged with two counts involving lewd and lascivious molestation of a 9-year-old girl.

Former reality TV star Joseph Duggar has been released from jail in Florida after pleading not guilty to molestation charges.

The former 19 Kids and Counting star was released on $600,000 bond hours after appearing in front of a judge. According to the Bay County Jail’s inmate search, Duggar was no longer listed as an inmate as of Tuesday afternoon.

Joseph, 31, was arrested and charged on March 18 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.

He is accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl during a family vacation in 2020. The girl, now 14, recently came forward to authorities. The girl’s father also confronted the Counting On alum, who allegedly admitted guilt to the girl’s father and authorities.

During Joseph’s pretrial release — he is expected back in court April 20 — he has been restricted to no unsupervised contact with minors, including the four children he shares with wife Kendra, according to PEOPLE.

Unrelated to the child molestation charges, authorities in Arkansas filed four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment against Joseph and Kendra two days after Joseph’s arrest.

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Albert Sauline, the attorney representing Joseph in the child molestation case, said that their “No. 1 goal is to make sure he is treated fairly,” per the Associated Press, due to Joseph’s celebrity status.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out Sauline for further comment.

The Duggar family rose to prominence in the early 2000s with the reality series 19 Kids and Counting and its spinoff Counting On. The series were canceled in 2015 and 2021, respectively, amid the legal issues of Joseph’s older brother Josh Duggar.

Josh was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography in 2021. He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2022.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org.

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