A few minutes ago! The Duggar family identifies the ‘enemy’ behind Joseph and wife Kendra’s arrests!
The Duggar family is rallying around Joseph and Kendra Duggar after their arrests – with some relatives claiming the scandal is a case of ‘persecution’ and even invoking Satan as the force behind their downfall.
A family insider told the Daily Mail they are still reeling after Joseph’s March 18 arrest on sex abuse charges – and the shock decision also to charge his wife.
‘As you can imagine, this has been a lot to take in over the past few days,’ the relative said. ‘Everyone is just trying to process it.’
‘Some of the family feels like this is straight-up persecution. It’s an attack from people who want to see them struggle.’
‘Arresting Joseph – people understand that. But arresting Kendra? That feels like a step further.’
The insider said some relatives believe the controversy reflects long-standing warnings from patriarch Jim Bob Duggar.
‘He’s always said the world would be hostile to them. That following Christ means the enemy will try to attack,’ they said.
‘That’s how this feels to some – like a witch hunt.’
Joseph Duggar, 31, was arrested in Tontitown, Arkansas, where he lives with his wife and their four children.
He is accused of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12, according to an arrest affidavit from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
The alleged victim – a nine-year-old girl – told investigators Duggar touched her inappropriately multiple times during a family vacation in Panama City Beach nearly six years ago.
Her father confronted Duggar about the allegations last week, the affidavit states.
Authorities say Duggar later admitted in a recorded call to ‘touching the victim over her clothing’ and acknowledged his ‘intentions were not pure.’
He has been jailed in Arkansas and is awaiting extradition to Florida. He has not posted bond.
Joseph and Kendra Duggar have been married since 2017 and have four children. They were both arrested on separate charges in the space of a week
A teen girl alleges that when she was 9, Joseph Duggar touched her inappropriately several times while she was on a family vacation in Florida
Two days later, Joseph’s 27-year-old wife was also taken into custody.
Kendra and Joseph Duggar were both charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, as well as four charges of second-degree false imprisonment.
Authorities say that those charges are separate from Joseph’s previous sexual abuse charges.
Authorities have not disclosed the source of the charges against Kendra. She is free on $1,470 bond.
She has not responded to the Daily Mail’s attempts to contact her, and her attorney’s name was not immediately released.
The arrests have sent shockwaves through the Duggar family – already rocked by the crimes of Joseph’s older brother, Josh Duggar.
Josh was convicted in 2021 of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material and later sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison.
While the Duggars are shocked by Joseph’s arrest, they are more skeptical of the charges against her, the family member says.
‘I get Joseph’s arrest,’ the family member says. ‘It’s reasonable because there’s a claim against him, and they have to arrest someone accused of that. He’ll have his day in court.
‘But the arrest of Kendra seems a lot less black and white. It just came out of nowhere. I don’t know what she supposedly did, so I’ll hold off judgment until I know. But it does feel weird.’
Joseph and Kendra’s arrests come nearly five years after Joseph’s older brother, Josh, was convicted of receiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Josh, now 38, was also accused of sexually abusing five girls, including his younger sisters – but he never faced any charges for the alleged abuse.
After the arrest, Josh’s attorney told the Daily Mail that the charges against his brother ‘deeply saddened’ him.
‘Josh understands the stigma of being accused,’ his attorney told the Daily Mail.
‘He lives with the painful reality of how false accusations can destroy a life. He understands how the targeting of a person for publicity can twist the truth into sensationalized fiction.’
The attorney added that although ‘Josh and Joe are not in frequent communication,’ the jailed brother ‘hopes and prays for his brother’s well being in this difficult time’.
The brothers and their family had starred in the TLC show ’19 Kids and Counting,’ which followed conservative Baptists Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children. Once a mainstay on the network, the show presented the family as a squeaky clean brood that avoided alcohol, rock music, dancing, or premarital sex. Even their attire was modest, with the girls wearing long, flowing skirts and high necklines.
The show was canceled after Josh Duggar’s arrest. A father of seven, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The Duggar family member tells the Daily Mail that the family is devastated by the charges against Joseph and Kendra, and some of his siblings are struggling with the reality that a second brother has been charged with sex crimes.
‘It’s really sobering,’ says the relative. ‘This is a family where modesty, purity and decency were everything. This is the opposite. It’s embarrassing and horrifying, and just really, really sad.’