Joseph Duggar was arrested Wednesday after a teenage girl accused him of molesting her when she was 9 years old.

Kendra Duggar arrested as she and husband Joseph Duggar face new child endangerment charges

Joseph Duggar was arrested Wednesday after a teenage girl accused him of molesting her when she was 9 years old.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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on March 20, 2026 8:24 p.m. ET

Joseph Duggar; Kendra Duggar. Credit:

Washington County Sheriff's Department

Joseph Duggar is facing more misdemeanor charges after his arrest — and now, his wife Kendra Duggar has also been arrested.

Arkansas' Tontitown Police Department announced Friday that both Joseph and Kendra have been charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, second degree, as well as four counts of false imprisonment, second degree. The department said that arrest warrants had been issued, though Joseph was already in custody due to his previous arrest on child molestation charges.

Kendra was taken into custody on Friday, according to Washington County court records. Her bond was set at $1,470.

* *has reached out to representatives for the Duggar family for comment.

Joseph Duggar and Kendra Duggar.

Little Duggar Family/Instagram

Local outlets KNWA/KFTA reported that police arrived at the Duggars' compound around 1 p.m. on Friday, but that Kendra was not home.

Joseph was arrested on Wednesday on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older.

KNWA/KFTA reported that Friday's charges (and Kendra's arrest) were unrelated to Joseph's child molestation case.

Authorities said that a 14-year-old girl recently came forward with allegations that the former *19 Kids and Counting* star molested her when she was 9 years old during a family vacation in Florida in 2020. Police claimed that Joseph "manipulated the victim's underwear and grazed her genitals" while sitting with her on a couch, and that he repeatedly asked the girl to sit on his lap.

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Police also alleged that the girl's father confronted Joseph on Tuesday, and that the former TLC star admitted guilt to both the father and detectives.

Joseph and Kendra got engaged in May 2017 and married in September 2017. The couple shares four children together.

Joseph Duggar and Kendra Duggar.

Little Duggar Family/Instagram

Joseph's brother, Josh Duggar, is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence after being convicted of possessing child pornography in 2021. He responded to Joseph's arrest in a statement via his attorney.

"Josh understands the stigma of being accused," the attorney told *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 lawyer added that Josh "hopes and prays for his brother's well being in this difficult time."

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The Duggars rose to fame on the TLC reality series *19 Kids and Counting*, which followed parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as they raised an unusually large family. The show was canceled in 2015 after reports emerged that Josh was investigated in 2006 following allegations that he molested five underage girls, including four of his sisters and a babysitter, as a teenager.

The Duggars returned to TLC with a new show, *Counting On*, in 2015. That show was canceled in 2021 after Josh's child pornography conviction.

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