Joseph and Kendra Duggar Face Charges in Arkansas and Florida

Two days after the arrest of former 19 Kids and Counting star Joseph Duggar, an arrest warrant for his wife, Kendra Duggar, was also issued and served. According to the Tontitown, Arkansas, Police Department, Kendra Duggar was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment – both in the second degree – on Friday, March 20, 2026.

The Tontitown Police Department stated that these charges were also issued against Joseph Duggar. Joseph Duggar’s original arrest charges from Wednesday, March 18, 2026, were for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under 12 years old. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office stated those charges related to the alleged 2020 molestation of a then-9-year-old girl in Panama City Beach, Florida.

“Investigators discovered the victim’s father confronted [Joseph] Duggar about these incidents on March 17th, 2026,” the statement reads. “Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown Detectives.”

Joseph Duggar was arrested in Tontitown last week and waived his right to an extradition hearing, setting in motion his transfer to Florida to face the child molestation charge. Kendra Duggar was released soon after her arrest on a $1,470 bond, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office website.

Duggar Family History and Previous Allegations

The separate set of charges against both Joseph and Kendra Duggar come almost five years after Joseph Duggar’s older brother, Josh, was convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images. In that case, investigators testified that a computer at a car dealership owned by Josh Duggar was used in 2019 to download images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers. He was sentenced in 2022 to 12½ years in prison and the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against his conviction in 2024.

Josh and Joseph Duggar both starred in the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting. That show followed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as they raised their children, all with first names beginning with the letter J. After allegations that Josh Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier, the show was canceled in 2015.

A follow-up series, Counting On, was canceled after Josh Duggar’s arrest. Joseph and Kendra Duggar’s courtship and 2017 marriage were documented on that show, though they have in recent years stepped back from the spotlight. The couple’s last post on their public Instagram account was from 2021, celebrating their third child’s second birthday.

The Duggar family did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News on Monday.