Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is wrapping up an investigation that ended with a 12-year sentence for a former reality television personality.
Former reality TV personality Joshua Duggar first appeared on the TLC series "19 Kids & Counting" with his family. a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) news release said. The investigation found that he repeatedly downloaded and viewed child sexual abuse media. Duggar was sentenced to a total of 151 months in prison. He is required to serve 20 years on supervised release, register as a sex offender and pay $50,000 in fines.
“Possessing and viewing child exploitation material is not a victimless crime – every time it’s downloaded or shared, it perpetuates the trauma and re-victimizes the child,” Dave Denton, HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge, said in the release. “Our special agents are deeply committed to investigating these crimes and pursuing anyone, regardless of circumstances, who preys on innocent members of our society.”
Arkansas investigators detected Duggar’s activity while performing an undercover investigation using an online file-sharing program, the release said. Investigators “subsequently searched his car lot in November 2019, and seized Duggar’s desktop computer as well as other evidence.”
The Duggar investigation was conducted in collaboration with the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS); HSI Fayetteville, Ark.; the Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce; and the Little Rock Police Department, the release said.
