Joseph Duggar denied unsupervised contact with his four kids
Joseph Duggar's effort to see his kids without supervision has been rejected.
The former TLC "19 Kids and Counting" reality star, 31, who is accused of child molestation, was unsuccessful at a June 16 hearing, with Bay County, Florida judge Brantley S. Clark Jr. denying his motion to have unsupervised contact with the four children he shares with wife Kendra Duggar.
The terms of Duggar's release prohibits unsupervised contact of any minors, which he said in a May 17 filing "is creating a hardship for the family unit, as the Defendant has been unable to communicate with his own biological children since the First Appearance on March 31, 2026."
Clark Jr. pointed out in his ruling that Duggar is not barred from spending time with his children, it just has to be supervised, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. Clark Jr. also denied Duggar's other motion to visit and work at rental properties he owns, which are within 500 feet of his alleged victim's residence.
Duggar claimed "the alleged victim and her family have abandoned their residence, no longer residing at the previously listed address," but Clark Jr. ruled that the TLC alum can have an employee agent maintain the property.
Joseph Duggar has been charged with child sexual abuse
Duggar, the the seventh-eldest in a family whose life was documented on the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting," was arrested on March 18 and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior for allegedly molesting a 9-year-old girl in Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2020, according to the Bay County Sheriff's Office.
During a forensic interview, the victim, now 14, disclosed several instances of "sexual abuse" by Duggar that occurred during a 2020 family vacation in Panama City Beach, per the sheriff's office's statement. The victim reported that "Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap" throughout the trip, and, at one point, "asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket."
Duggar then allegedly "manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals" and continued "to rub his hands on her thighs," the sheriff's office said. The victim told investigators Duggar later "apologized for his actions and the incidents stopped."
The ex-television personality entered a not guilty plea on March 29 and requested a jury trial. He is currently on pretrial release after posting a $600,000 bond.
Days after Duggar's arrest, his wife of nine years Kendra Duggar, 27, was arrested in Arkansas. They were both charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of false imprisonment, the Tontitown Police Department announced March 20. These charges are unrelated to Joseph Duggar's Florida case.