It’s been a few days since Josh Duggar was arrested by federal agents and booked in Washington County, Arkansas. At the time of the arrest, it was unclear what the former 19 Kids and Counting star was being charged with, but in the days since, it’s slowly come out that he was booked on child pornography charges. Now an agent attached to the case has spoken out, calling some of the images among “the worst” he’s seen.
This week, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerald Faulkner testified on behalf of the prosecution. Speaking in court, the agent detailed some of the files Josh Duggar is alleged to have downloaded. Several of these files were described and include video content of children being abused between the ages of 18 months and 12 years. It was that imagery that Faulkner called “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I've ever had to examine."
Other details about the day of arrest were also revealed in Gerald Faulkner’s testimony. The Homeland Security Special Agent also says that Josh Duggar was reportedly uncooperative when asked whether child pornography on the computer found at his car dealership had been seen by the former reality star. When asked, Josh Duggar allegedly said, “I'd rather not answer that question.”
Finally, it is being alleged that despite the child pornography that the agency had tracked to a computer at Josh Duggar’s place of work, Anna Duggar had allegedly already signed up for Covenant Eyes, a Christian tracking system that allegedly sent alerts to her when pornography was downloaded.
According to People, Gerald Faulkner was speaking out about what was found at the car dealership Josh Duggar worked out as part of a hearing to determine whether or not Duggar will be able to post bail before his trial. He will not be allowed to return to the home he, his wife Anna, and their six children share.
This is not the first time that Josh Duggar had been connected with an issue related to underage girls. When he was a teenager, he had been accused of molesting several younger girls, some of them his sisters. His siblings later had detailed what had happened on the 19 Kids and Counting follow-up Counting On after the original TLC series was canceled.
No charges were ever filed in those incidents, but that follow-up had declined to include Josh Duggar (and reportedly struggled with advertising early on after the allegations broke), though Anna has occasionally popped up without being an official cast member. The two are currently expecting a seventh child together. The gender announcement -- a girl -- was made just one week ago, just before the arrest occurred in Arkansas.
Duggar sister Jessa and her husband Ben Seewald released a statement after the arrest, bringing in their personal and Christian beliefs and a dislike for pornography.
We are saddened to hear of the charges against Josh. As Christians, we stand against any form of pornography or abuse and we desire for the truth to be exposed, whatever that may be. Our prayers are with their family as they walk through this difficult time.
Duggar had more recently been in the news for fighting legal battles over the molestation information leaking. His take was that he was a minor and those records should not have been handed over when requested, though as of last year, he had just lost an appeal.
