On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered that former reality TV star Josh Duggar be released while he awaits trial for allegedly downloading and possessing child porn. The latest investigation into Duggar, who has a disturbing history of sexual misconduct allegations, started when a Little Rock, Arkansas, detective traced downloads of child pornography to a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned. At Wednesday’s hearing, Homeland Security Agent Gerald Faulker testified that the images that Duggar allegedly downloaded depicted the sexual abuse of children as young as 18 months old. Faulker said these images were among the “top five of the worst of the worst I’ve ever had to examine.” Faulker also described how when a Homeland Security team raided the car dealership and went to talk to Duggar, he “spontaneously” asked them, “What is this about? Has someone been downloading child pornography?” Agents had not said they were investigating child pornography.
According to an order from District Judge Christy Comstock, Duggar will be under house arrest at the home of people described as friends of his family, who have agreed to be his custodians, and will wear a GPS tracker. Duggar, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is not allowed to use the internet during this time, forbidden from seeing his children without his wife present, and is banned from being around any other minors aside from them. “I have full confidence in the United States Marshal Service to find you if you decide not to comply with these conditions of release, so don’t make me regret this decision,” the judge told Duggar. “You won’t, your honor,” Duggar responded.
Read it at Associated Press
