Josh Duggar convicted in child pornography trial

After six days of arguments and seven hours of deliberation, a federal jury in Arkansas found the former reality TV star guilty on two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. The 33-year-old father of seven was the oldest son of the conservative, Christian family featured on the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting. The network canceled the show in 2015 after a 2006 police report came out indicating that Duggar molested four of his sisters and a babysitter while he was a minor. He was not charged due to the statute of limitations. Duggar was immediately taken into custody after Thursday’s verdict and will be sentenced in four months. The charges carry a maximum 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for each count.

What was the case about? The trial centered on computer security. Duggar installed the Linux operating system onto his work computer that would prevent it from tracking his activity. Homeland Security agents seized two personal devices and the computer from a car dealership Duggar owned in 2019, and the Justice Department’s High Technology Investigative Unit prosecuted the case. Prosecutors argued he installed partitions within the system so that he could watch videos of child sexual abuse. The defense said someone else downloaded the videos on Duggar’s computer.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Leigh Jones’ report on the molestation scandal.