Former reality television star Josh Duggar was found guilty of child pornography charges Thursday in Arkansas.
The eldest child of the Duggar family, whose day-to-day life was featured on the hit TLC reality series “19 Kids and Counting” from 2008 until 2015, was charged in April with two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography.
Prosecutors argued that some of those images included children younger than 12.
In April, the 33-year-old conservative political activist pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Duggar was taken into custody Thursday morning after the verdict was announced.
He was found guilty on both charges, after just under seven hours of deliberation. He now faces up to 20 years behind bars and fines of up to $250,000 for each count.
According to prosecutors, a Homeland Security Agent testified that pornographic images had been downloaded to a computer at a car dealership that Duggar owned in May 2019.
However, one of his attorneys, Justin Gilfand, argued during an opening statement that the images could have been downloaded by another person, in a “classic, old-fashioned whodunit.”
In 2015, Duggar admitted to molesting multiple girls when he was a teen.
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends,” Duggar told People at the time. “I confessed this to my parents, who took several steps to help me address the situation.”
The scandal led TLC to cancel “19 Kids and Counting” and forced Duggar to resign from FRC Action, a lobbying group sponsored by the Family Research Council that seeks to “mobilize Values Voters on behalf of faith, family, and freedom.”
Judge Timothy Brooks said that sentencing will happen in about four months.
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