Dec. 9 (UPI) — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar, who found fame with a TLC series about his large family, was convicted in Arkansas on Thursday on two criminal counts for receiving and possessing child pornography.
The federal jury in Fayetteville found Duggar guilty on one count of possessing child pornography and one count of downloading it. He was immediately taken into custody.
He faces a combined 20 years in prison for both counts. He will be sentenced around April, the judge said.
Duggar, 33, was formerly the star of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting until it went off the air six years ago amid molestation reports involving Duggar.
He also faces a $250,000 fine for Thursday’s conviction.
The verdict came two years after federal authorities searched Duggar’s business in 2019 and seized personal devices and a work computer. He was indicted earlier this year on both charges after prosecutors provided evidence that he had an elaborate system to view child pornography.
Duggar pleaded not guilty in April. A main witness at trial was the director of the Justice Department’s technology investigative unit, who analyzed the devices. He said there were photos and videos of children, some under 10 years old, being sexually abused.
A longtime family friend testified at trial that Duggar admitted to molesting four young girls when he was a teenager.
Duggar’s reality show as canceled in 2015 after a police report revealed that he’d molested younger girls. He admitted then to having a pornography addiction.
