Late last week, the latest disgraced Duggar left the Arkansas jail where he had been held in solitary confinement.
It is widely believed that Joseph has now been extradited to Florida, where he faces charges for sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl.
Various family members have spoken out, with some having to later revise their statements as they learned more.
Most agree that Jason and his wife, Maddie, have made the best statement from the family to date.
This statement isn’t mincing words
Jason and Maddie took to Instagram to share a joint written statement.
They are wholly condemning Joseph.
To start, they admit that they feel “completely shocked, confused, and grieved to list a few emotions.”
Jason wrote: “We are disgusted to hear the news about my brother. However, this isn’t about how it’s impacted our lives.”
The couple expressed: “Our hearts are burdened because a child’s life has been turned upside down due to the evil actions of someone who should have never hurt the vulnerable. This is something unthinkable.”
Jason and Maddie expressed that Joseph’s alleged crimes, to which he has reportedly confessed twice, angered them.
The couple prays that “God’s righteous hand and the court system will serve justice in the situation as described.”
Their statement expressed: “To fathom that someone would abuse their authority to harass the innocent is vile.”
In addition to the victim, the couple said that they will continue to pray for Joseph’s four young children — who are of course losing their father.
“We stand with innocent children,” Jason and Maddie concluded. “Always.”
People are praising the statement
Various Duggar siblings have made different remarks — some speaking with more information than others.
(That is one of the pitfalls of speaking out immediately, because those who took their time will have more information.)
The worst statement, by far, came from Josh Duggar by way of his attorney.
The disgraced criminal claimed that Joseph was innocent. Notably, not even Joseph himself has made such a claim.
In contrast, Jason’s statement seems to be one of the best.
This is, frankly, better than Duggar responses to Josh’s crimes.
As longtime watchers of that odious family may recall, Jim Bob and Michelle trotted their daughters in front of TV cameras to minimize the crimes that Joseph had committed against them.
Some even suggested at the time that perhaps the news about Josh coming to light was some sort of mystical attack against their family — as if their religion’s devil were at war with them.
(As we have remarked, it must be incredibly frightening to believe that a powerful evil entity personally wants your destruction. That is what they were raised to believe.)
Even after DHS raided Josh’s workplace during the CSAM investigation, some — particularly his wife — seemed convinced that he was framed. Now, some of the family seem to see things with greater clarity.
He’s likely in Florida
As we mentioned, as of March 27, Joseph is no longer at the Arkansas jail where he has spent the latter half of March.
Joseph declined to fight extradition to Florida. In fact, he signed an extradition waiver.
In light of that, he is likely in the custody of Bay County, FL and awaiting trial for sexually abusing the then-9-year-old girl.
The child has not been identified. Documents list her only as Jane Doe. We know only that she is not one of the Duggar nieces. We neither know nor wish to know more than that.
At present, it is speculated that he might enter a guilty plea, sparing his victim from having to testify. However, we will have to wait and see.