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In 2014, Josh Duggar, a former reality TV star and conservative activist, spoke at an event in Little Rock, Arkansas. |
Josh Duggar, a former star of the TLC reality program "19 Kids and Counting," about a big family driven by strict Christian principles, was found guilty of downloading child sexual abuse material in federal court in Arkansas on Thursday.
In a case that gained worldwide notice, a jury in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., rendered the verdict one day after it began deliberations.
Mr. Duggar, 33, was found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography, each of which carries a potential punishment of 20 years in jail and $250,000 in penalties.
In an interview on Thursday, Clay Fowlkes, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, said the verdict marked a big step forward in his office's efforts to prevent child exploitation and abuse.
"No one is above the law, regardless of their celebrity, riches, or notoriety," Mr. Fowlkes added.
The verdict came a little more than a week after the trial began. According to an indictment, Mr. Duggar, who was detained in April, was accused of using the internet to obtain obscene video showing the sexual abuse of minors, some as young as 12.
Mr. Duggar's lawyers indicated they will appeal the judgment in an email sent immediately after it was announced.
His attorneys added, "We appreciate the jury's thorough deliberations, we accept the jury's judgment, and we intend to appeal."
Mr. Duggar had pled not guilty and had been released on a judge-issued personal-recognizance bond. According to the television station KNWA, he sobbed as he was detained and brought into a jail in the courthouse on Thursday.
Mr. Duggar will now await a sentence, which generally takes 60 to 90 days, according to Mr. Fowlkes. He stressed the importance of not losing sight of the reality that the youngsters represented in Mr. Duggar's graphic materials were victims of crime.
Prosecutors claim that in May 2019, Mr. Duggar at his used car business in Springdale, Ark., placed a password-protected partition on the hard disc of his desktop computer to dodge software that identifies pornographic photos of minors.
According to prosecutors, he subsequently downloaded child sexual abuse material from the internet many times over the period of three days, with the password for the partition being the same as Mr. Duggar's other personal and family accounts.
After In Touch Weekly reported on a 2006 police report alleging that Mr. Duggar had abused many females while he was a teenager, TLC pulled all episodes of "19 Kids and Counting" in 2015. TLC terminated the show after at least 20 firms dropped their advertisements from the show, which launched in 2008 and was one of the cable network's top performers.
On Thursday, TLC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The prior claims, which had exceeded the statute of limitations, resulted in no criminal prosecution. In 2015, Mr. Duggar's parents informed Fox News that four of their son's five victims were his sisters.
Mr. Duggar issued an apology to People magazine at the time, which was also posted on the Duggar family's Facebook page.
"I acted inexcusably twelve years ago as a young adolescent, for which I am exceedingly sorry and truly regret," he stated in the message, which is no longer viewable on Facebook. "I caused harm to others, including my family and friends." I told my parents about it, and they took many efforts to assist me to deal with the problem."
Mr. Duggar also resigned from his role as director of the hardline Family Research Council's lobbying arm.
Mr. Duggar claimed in a statement to People, "We spoke with the authorities where I acknowledged my conduct, and my parents arranged for me and anyone affected by my acts to attend counseling." "I realized that if I kept going down this bad path, I'd wind up wrecking my life."