By Sarah N. Lynch

(Reuters) – Former actuality tv character Josh Duggar was convicted by a jury in Arkansas on Thursday on federal costs referring to downloading and viewing images and movies depicting the sexual abuse of kids, the U.S. Justice Division stated.

Duggar, recognized for the TLC actuality TV present “19 Children and Counting” that targeted on his dad and mom and their 19 youngsters, was convicted on two prison costs. Duggar, 33, tried to cover his actions by utilizing a password-protected partition on the laborious drive of a desktop pc he saved at his used automotive gross sales lot, prosecutors stated.

The present was suspended in 2015 after information broke that Duggar had molested 5 ladies together with 4 of his sisters. He issued an announcement on the time admitting to his actions and resigned his submit at a conservative advocacy group, however didn’t face prison costs referring to that matter.

“As we speak’s verdict sends a message that we are going to monitor down and prosecute individuals who obtain and consider little one sexual abuse materials, whatever the lengths they go to hide their conduct,” Kenneth Well mannered, assistant lawyer basic on the Justice Division’s Felony Division, stated in an announcement.

Justin Gelfand, a lawyer for Duggar, stated: “We respect the jury’s prolonged deliberations, we respect the jury’s verdict, and we intend to attraction.”

A sentencing date for Duggar has not but been set. He may face between 5 and 20 years in jail for receiving little one sexual abuse supplies, and he may withstand 20 for possessing the supplies.

Regulation enforcement officers first detected his actions throughout an undercover investigation into on-line file-sharing actions and later searched the premises of his used automotive gross sales lot in November 2019. He was charged in April.

The present “19 Children and Counting” delved into the non secular values and beliefs of his dad and mom, together with their opposition to contraception, their desire to home-school their youngsters and their strict guidelines about relationship, which entailed chaperoning their daughters via a courtship and banning them from kissing till marriage.