FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced Wednesday to about 12 1/2 years in prison after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” They argued in a pre-sentencing court filing that Duggar has a “deep-seated, pervasive and violent sexual interest in children.”
Duggar was sentenced to twelve years and seven month imprisonment by the judge one day after denial of a defense motion for overturning the guilty verdict due to insufficient evidence.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes stated that he was happy with the sentence.
“While this is not the sentence we asked for, this is a lengthy sentence,” Fowlkes said outside the courthouse.
Duggar was sentenced to a 5-year term by his lawyers. Duggar has maintained his innocence and said that he would appeal.
After a Little Rock detective discovered that child porn files had been shared on a computer linked to Duggar, Duggar was taken into custody. The investigation revealed that Duggar downloaded images showing the abuse of children (including toddlers) onto a computer in his car dealership.
TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. After receiving information from a friend, authorities began to investigate the allegations of abuse in 2006. However, they concluded that there was no statute of limitations for any potential charges.
Duggar’s parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized. Duggar publicly apologized for his unspecified actions and quit as a lobbyist at the Family Research Council (a conservative Christian organization).
He publicly apologized months later for his cheating wife, and for an addiction to pornography.
In seeking a 20-year sentence, prosecutors cited the graphic images — and the ages of the children involved — as well as court testimony about the alleged abuse of Duggar’s sisters.
Duggar’s past behavior “provides an alarming window into the extent of his sexual interest in children that the Court should consider at sentencing,” federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
“This past conduct, when viewed alongside the conduct for which he has been convicted, makes clear that Duggar has a deep-seated, pervasive, and violent sexual interest in children, and a willingness to act on that interest” the court filing said.
Prosecutors also noted that Duggar’s computer had been partitioned to evade accountability software that had been installed to report to his wife activity such as porn searches, according to experts.
“There is simply no indication that Duggar will ever take the steps necessary to change this pattern of behavior and address his predilection for minor females,” prosecutors wrote.
Duggar has maintained that he’s innocent and that he intends to appeal, his attorneys wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
“Duggar accepts that he is before this Court for sentencing and that this Court must impose a penalty,” his attorneys wrote. “That is justice. But Duggar also appeals to this Court’s discretion to temper that justice with mercy.”
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