Josh Duggar Pleads Not Guilty To Child Pornography Possession Charges [Mugshot]

Josh Duggar, the former 19 Kids And Counting Star, was arrested and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. He was arrested by Homeland Security on Thursday and held in a prison in  Washington County, Arkansas.

Duggar appeared at the hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas via Zoom on Friday, where he was charged. He is being held without bond in an Arkansas jail. He pled not guilty to both of the charges against him.

“Josh Duggar has been charged in a two-count indictment. He has pled not guilty to both charges and we intend to defend this case aggressively and thoroughly. In this country, no one can stop prosecutors from charging a crime. But when you’re accused, you can fight back in the courtroom — and that is exactly what Josh intends to do,” his attorneys, Justin Gelfand, Travis W. Story and Greg Payne, said in a statement.

Duggar allegedly used the internet to download material of child sexual abuse, some of which depicts the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12, in May 2019. Duggar could face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 on each count if convicted.

Duggar will remain in jail while he awaits a bond hearing. If he is released, he will have to reside in a home without minors.

This is the latest in a series of scandals Duggar has faced since appearing on TLC. Duggar apologized in in May 2015 when it came out that he was investigated as a teen for touching five underage girls. Shortly after that, it was revealed that he had multiple active Ashley Madison accounts, which he used to cheat on his wife Anna Duggar. He also confessed to a pornography addiction.

He also had a previous run-in with Homeland Security when his place of employment, an Arkansas car dealership, was also raided as part of an “ongoing federal investigation” in November 2019.

Duggar and his wife recently announced that she was pregnant with their seventh child, a baby girl.