Josh Duggar is out on bail awaiting his trial date, but as prior reports indicated, he is not able to be at home with his wife or kids while he awaits sentencing for child porn. Last week, the former 19 Kids and Counting star had a court appearance over Zoom in which details related to his exit from the detention center were laid out to him. It was also the meeting when we heard some details about the day Duggar was initially arrested.
Josh Duggar’s Release And How Much Prison Time He Could Face
According to reports, Duggar’s lawyers argued that he would not be “a threat” if let out of the detention center he had been locked up in if let off on bail. The Zoom call proceedings revealed that Jim Bob Duggar, his father and the patriarch of the Duggar clan, had offered to host Josh Duggar while he was awaiting trial. Instead he was released elsewhere, but he was released until his court date, provided he follows the rules.
Given Josh Duggar had known about the investigation and had not attempted to “flee” while that investigation was ongoing, the judge on the case, Judge Christy Comstock, did release Josh Duggar to third-party custodians, per 5 News Online.
While out of jail, the father of six -- soon to be seven kids -- will not be able to stay at home with them or their mother Anna, but he will have some supervised access to his children. In addition, he will be denied access to the Internet, he must wear an electric monitor and he cannot live in a home with firearms.
His court case is looming, as well. Josh Duggar faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Steep fines may also ensue if he is found guilty. He could be forced to pay $250,000 per each charge. He was arrested on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
What The Special Agent On The Case Said About Josh Duggar’s Arrest
Separately, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerald Faulkner testified about the case, noting details about some of the content found on the computer at a car dealership owned by Josh Duggar. That agent called some of the child pornography among the “worst” he’d seen and noted that it depicted children between 18 months and 12 years of age.
Software had also been installed on Josh Duggar’s work computer to trigger reports for his wife Anna about any suspected pornography use, but Duggar had allegedly used a Linux partition in order to obscure his computer use from his wife. Regardless, the peer-to-peer files Duggar was downloading were able to reportedly be traced to a computer at his car dealership.
One detailing that Special Agent Gerald Faulkner revealed (via People) that Duggar “spontaneously asked the agents on the scene:
What is this about? Has someone been downloading child pornography?
Meanwhile, Josh Duggar had previously been in the news after allegedly molesting some younger girls when he was a teenager, with his sisters later admitting they were some of the young women he had allegedly molested after the reports came to light. Josh Duggar has had separate scandals, as well, namely being caught on Ashley Madison, a dating website for cheaters, while married to his wife Anna. Anna had revealed she was pregnant with the couple's seventh child late last month.
On July 1, Josh Duggar will head back to court for a pretiral hearing. The actual trial will begin on July 6.
