Reality TV star Josh Duggar’s computer contained 65 child porn images and a two-minute video showing a man engaging in sex acts with two young girls between 5 and 10 years of age, as well as dozens of other images in “unallocated space,” meaning someone had tried to delete them.
Homeland Security Special Agent Gerald Faulkner made the revelations during a court hearing in Duggar’s case on Wednesday, according to the Daily Mail.
Faulkner said the images included naked minors and sex acts with minors, with one file in particular showing sex abuse involving children as young as 18 months old. He testified that the imagers were “in the top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”
Duggar was arrested last week on child porn charges and has pleaded not guilty, as CrimeOnline previously reported. His attorneys have also filed a motion for his release, saying he’s too well known to be a flight risk.
Faulkner also described how Duggar’s computer came to agents’ attention. He said a Little Rock, Arkansas, detective initially flagged the files, then traced them to Duggar’s IP address at the car dealership where he worked. That eventually led to a raid on the dealership in November 2019. When agents asked to speak with him at that time, Faulkner said, Duggar “spontaneously” asked, “What is this about? Has someone been downloading child pornography?”
The agent also said that Duggar told the agents he’d “rather not answer that question” when asked if he had seen or had child sex abuse material in his possession.
He also detailed an “accountability” program on his computer that is designed to monitor and report objectionable content to a designated partner. The program, “Covenant Eyes,” is supposed to help people with porn addictions. It was set up to send reports to Duggar’s wife, Anna. But, Faulkner said, the program was unable to detect Duggar’s activities on the password-protected site he was using.
Josh Duggar was one of the “19 Kids and Counting” in the TLC show by that name that ran from 2008 to 2015 (first as “17 Kids … ” and then “18 Kids … ” before Duggar’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, reached 19). The show was cancelled when Josh Duggar admitted fondling at least five girls, including his sisters, when he was teenager. He also had a paid account at Ashley Madison, the site created to help married members cheat on their spouses.
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[Featured image: Josh Duggar/Washington County Sheriff’s Office]