Jill Duggar Dillard, who formerly starred in TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” spoke out for the first time since the arrest of her younger brother.
“Our hearts go out to the innocent juvenile victim of this unspeakable crime and her family,” she said in a family statement Thursday.
Joseph Duggar, 31, was arrested Wednesday and is accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl six years ago during a vacation in Florida. He was charged with molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said in a news release.
Dillard and her family added in the statement they were “shocked and heartbroken” to learn about the accusations through media reports this week.
“We strongly condemn abuse. We support the rule of law and hope that justice will be achieved,” the statement said.
“We pray God gives her strength, comfort and hope, and that she is able to get all the help and support she needs and deserves in the days ahead,” the family added.
Authorities said that the now-14-year-old girl told law enforcement that Duggar allegedly touched her inappropriately on several occasions during a family vacation in Panama City Beach in 2020.
The girl said Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap, sit next to him on a couch and used a blanket to cover the both of them, authorities said. Duggar rubbed his hands on her thighs, “manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals,” the sheriff’s office added.
He apologized at a later date and the incidents stopped, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities said the girl’s father confronted Duggar about the alleged abuse on Tuesday.
“Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown Detectives,” the news release said.
“19 Kids and Counting” followed the home life of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children, making the family a household name. It aired from 2008 to 2015, until revelations surfaced that the eldest son, Josh Duggar, molested five children, including four of his sisters.
In 2022, Josh Duggar was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in federal prison for receiving and possessing child sex abuse images.
TLC has not returned a request for comment.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.
