Joseph Duggar’s Whereabouts Unknown as Officials Decline to Comment 3 Days After His Release From Arkansas Jail
NEED TO KNOW
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Joseph Duggar was released from custody in Arkansas on Friday, March 27, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office tells PEOPLE
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He waived his right to extradition one week prior on March 20 and was being held on two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior filed by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida
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The Bay County Sheriff’s Office has declined to say if Joseph is in their custody. He is not listed as an inmate online and there is still no record of his case
Joseph Duggar has been transferred out of an Arkansas detention facility nine days after being booked on felony charges.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office tells PEOPLE that Joseph is no longer in their custody as of Friday, March 27.
Joseph was being held at the facility awaiting extradition to Florida after being charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office on March 18.
He is not yet listed as being in the custody of the BCSO. Charges have not yet been formally filed by prosecutors in that county and the agency declined to comment when asked by PEOPLE if Joseph had been extradited to their facility in Florida following his release from Arkansas.
Joseph Duggar jokes with a member of law enforcement while being booked into custody on March 18
Credit: Washington County Sheriff’s Office via AP
Joseph is accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl several times during a 2020 family vacation to Panama City Beach.
The reality star waived his right to an extradition hearing one week prior to his release on March 20.
A deputy sheriff with the BCSO wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant that Joseph allegedly confessed to sexually abusing the girl on two occasions — first to her father on March 17 and then the following day on a phone call with the father and a detective with the Tontitown Police Department (TPD).
That detective also conducted a forensic interview with the girl, now 14, during which she accused Joseph of sexually assaulting her as they sat on a couch in their beach rental while hiding his actions with a blanket, according to the affidavit.
Joseph is expected to be charged with lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor under the age of 12 and lewd and lascivious behavior committed by an individual over the age of 18 when he is arraigned in Florida.
Kendra and Josh Duggar
Credit: Joseph and Kendra Duggar/Instagram
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In addition to those felony charges in Florida, Joseph and his wife Kendra Duggar as also facing unrelated charges stemming from a search of their home by the TPD and agents from the Arkansas Dept. of Human Services on March 19.
Joseph and Kendra have both been charged with four misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment as well as four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Kendra is out on bail following those charges, and both her and Joseph are scheduled to appear in an Arkansas courtroom on April 29.
Joseph, who appeared on all four iterations of his family’s TLC reality series franchise beginning when he was just 13, is a father of four who has been married to his wife Kendra since 2017.
His wedding to Kendra was featured in a 2017 episode of Counting On, at which time she joined the cast of the reality show.
TLC cancelled Counting On in 2021 after a federal jury convicted Joseph’s older brother Josh Duggar, 38, of receiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Josh was sentenced to just over 12 years in prison and is now serving out his time at a low-security facility in Texas.
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.
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