Officials announced on Wednesday that former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in federal prison for receiving and possessing pictures of child sex abuse.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas, Duggar, 34, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $50,100 in fines and special assessments.
In December, Duggar was convicted of two counts of “receiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
Federal prosecutors asserted that the “19 Kids and Counting” star retrieved the pictures in May 2019 on his computer at work using a Linux separation to sidestep software that monitors web use.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the files contained “images of prepubescent children and depictions of sadistic abuse.”
During an undercover investigation of the online file-sharing program that Duggar used, law enforcement discovered the activity and found “significant evidence” that Duggar was the only salaried employee present when the images were downloaded, according to the office.
He faced up to twenty years in prison.
The presiding judge, Timothy L. Brooks, dismissed one of the charges and determined that Duggar did not knowingly distribute images of child sex abuse.
Anna and Jim Bob Duggar, both of whom appeared on “19 Kids and Counting,” were present at the sentencing. Also present were his sister Joy-Anna Forsyth and brother Jason Duggar.
