He is facing two charges of possessing child porn.
Josh Duggar of the hit reality TV show 19 Kids And Counting has been charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.
The 33-year-old pleaded not guilty to the federal charges on Friday during a virtual court hearing during which was ordered to live with a third party with no children if he is granted bond.
Duggar was taken into custody in Springdale, Arkansas a day earlier after turning himself in but the charges were not announced at the time. He is charged with receiving and possessing material depicting the sexual abuse of children.
According to the indictment, he is alleged to have downloaded child sexual abuse material online in May 2019. Some of the child pornography material he is accused of possessing shows children under the age of 12.
If convicted, Duggar faces up to 20 years in prison.
His arrest followed a Homeland Security raid on his now-closed car dealership, Wholesale Motorcars, in Springdale, Arkansas back in November 2019. He was not charged at the time.
His parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, issued a statement on Friday, saying they were praying for their son and pregnant daughter-in-law.
The arrest marks Duggar’s latest brush with the law after his father, Jim Bob, reported him to police in 2006 for allegedly molesting five young girls over multiple occasions back when he was 14 and 15.
Four of the girls were his sisters but he was never criminally charged. He spent several months in a Christian rehab facility where he was treated for a sex addiction.
He was sued by a porn star in 2015 for allegedly assaulting her during sex but the lawsuit was later dropped.
Duggar is also currently in the midst of a separate legal battle after a civil lawsuit was filed against him for real estate fraud.
His arrest on the latest charges came just days after he and his wife Anna announced they were expecting their seventh child.
Josh Duggar arrested, facing child porn charges https://t.co/jv2WwdB37c
— WGRZ (@WGRZ) April 30, 2021
Duggar is the eldest of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children who all shot to fame on the reality series 19 Kids and Counting that followed the devout Baptist family from 2008 to 2015.
The show was axed that year by TLC after allegations emerged that Duggar had molested five young girls.
