Reality TV stars Joseph and Kendra Duggar withdraw not guilty pleas in child endangerment case
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Set us as preferred Reality TV personality Joseph Duggar and wife Kendra — who were charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and false imprisonment in March — withdrew their not guilty pleas Monday.On March 20, Arkansas’ Tontitown Police Department issued arrest warrants for the couple, who were each charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment.The charges were filed two days after Joseph — a member of the well-known Duggar family from the TLC series “19 Kids and Counting” — was arrested by Bay County sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of molesting a minor in Florida.Kendra was booked into the Washington County Detention Center on March 20 and released on a $1,470 bond the same day.The child endangerment charges stemmed from an inspection of the home of the couple, who share four children, People reported at the time, “and the door locks being on the exterior of the doors.” News station KNWA-TV reported that the Arkansas charges were unrelated, although Tontitown police said the investigation was “launched on the heels of the alleged incident in Florida.”The couple were due to appear in an Arkansas courtroom Monday but were able to skip the hearing after withdrawing their not guilty plea.
Instead, they submitted a plea by order to the court, which, if approved by the judge, would allow them to enter either a guilty plea or no-contest plea — where they would not admit guilt but wouldn’t contest the charges.So they were not required to appear before a judge, and the case has been diverted for a year.
If convicted on all counts, the couple — who were married in 2017 on the TLC spinoff series “Counting On” and have four children together — could face up to eight years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.The extended Duggar f...