Convicted sex offender Josh Duggar speaks after brother Joseph's arrest

Convicted sex offender Josh Duggar slammed the "false accusations" against his brother Joseph, who was arrested on allegations of molesting a 9-year-old girl. Speaking through his lawyer from prison, Josh said he shared the same "stigma" his 31-year-old sibling faced after the arrest.

"He lives with the painful reality of how false accusations can destroy a life. He understands how the targeting of a person for publicity can twist the truth into sensationalized fiction," the lawyer said. Joseph was arrested in Florida and charged with Lewd and Lascivious Behavior, involving unlawful sexual activity with a minor, after an unidentified girl — now 14 — told the Tontitown Police Department she had been inappropriately touched multiple times during a 2020 family vacation to Destin.

The girl said Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap, sat her next to him on the couch under a shared blanket, manipulated her underwear and grazed her genitals, and rubbed his hands on her thighs on multiple occasions.

United States, Florida

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