Joseph Garrett Duggar was arrested Wednesday and charged with molestation of a victim younger than 12 and lewd and lascivious behavior, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said.
The office said the alleged victim, now 14, told investigators during a forensic interview that the incidents occurred during a family vacation to Panama City Beach in 2020. According to a sheriff’s office release, Duggar asked the girl to sit on his lap, covered both of them with a blanket and “manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals,” and “would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs.”
The sheriff’s office said Duggar later apologized and the behavior stopped. The office said the girl’s father confronted Duggar on Tuesday and that Duggar admitted what he had done to the father and to police.
Duggar, who lives in Arkansas, is awaiting extradition to Florida and was booked into the Washington County jail in Arkansas, People magazine reported.
The arrest comes amid public scrutiny of the Duggar family after Joseph’s older brother, Josh Duggar, was convicted by a federal jury in December 2021 on charges related to the receipt and possession of child pornography and was sentenced in May 2022 to 151 months in prison, court records show. His appeal for a new trial failed in 2023, and he is expected to remain in custody through 2032, according to court records.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
