Why was Josh Duggar arrested? Ex-reality star held without bond days after wife announces seventh pregnancy
Ex-reality star of '19 Kids And Counting', Josh Duggar, has reportedly been arrested in connection with a 2019 raid on his car dealership. The arrest comes six years after the sex abuse scandal where it was revealed he assaulted five young females as a teenager, including two of his sisters.
Duggar, 33, reportedly turned himself in without incident to US Marshals in Arkansas on Thursday, April 29. While the charges against him are yet to be established, he is currently being held in federal custody at Washington County Jail with no bond.
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Speaking to The Sun, a source claimed that Duggar's detention is related to a Homeland Security raid that took place at his now-closed car dealership in Springdale, Arkansas, back in November 2019. At the time, however, no charges were brought against the ex-reality star.
However, this is not Duggar's first run-in with the law. In 2006, his father Jim Bob reported him to police for allegedly molesting five young girls multiple times back when he was 14 and 15, including his sisters Jill and Jessa. In 2015, the 33-year-old was also sued by a porn star for allegedly assaulting her during sex. However, the lawsuit was later dropped.
Aside from his April 29 arrest, Duggar is reportedly also battling a civil lawsuit that was filed against him for alleged real estate fraud. This comes just days after Duggar and his wife, Anna, announced they were expecting their seventh child together.
According to the Daily Mail, there is no bond amount listed for Duggar and his charges are unclear but confirmed to be on a federal level. The Washington County Sheriff's Office did not divulge any further details and told the newspaper that he is on the "hold for another department."
That said, while the Duggar family is "extremely concerned" about his arrest, they are reportedly not surprised at all. "The family has known that this has been coming for weeks, and Josh has been preparing himself," the source told The Sun. "They are praying together for Josh and Anna, who is standing by her husband as she always has. Family members are extremely concerned by what is happening and they just want to find out the truth."
According to the source, the family will be publicly addressing the issue soon and is hoping that "this in many ways will bring them closer together and even closer to God." Duggar was remanded in custody at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville as he awaited his first court appearance Friday morning in the US District Court Western District of Arkansas.
Authorities said the charges against Duggar are connected to the raid on his car dealership on November 20, 2019, when federal agents stormed Wholesale Motorcars in Springdale, Arkansas as part of an "ongoing federal investigation."
At the time, Homeland Security Investigations Spokesperson Bryan Cox said he could not reveal the status of the "ongoing" probe. "I do not dispute the information you've obtained. That is the location that we were. I can't speak to the status of any ongoing investigation," he said, per KNWA. "But, I do not dispute that we were present at that specific address." Cox also indirectly confirmed that there was an ongoing federal criminal investigation against Duggar. He said, "I can't speak to any individual that may be under investigation. So I can confirm that we were at that address. And spoke to individuals at that location. But I can't discuss any individuals by name," he added.