Joseph Duggar mocked by cousin over reported jail complaints
Joseph Duggar was roasted by one of his own family members after his complaints about having difficulty sleeping in jail were released.In audio of a jailhouse phone call that was obtained by Us Weekly, Joseph, 31, could be heard bemoaning his lack of sleep behind bars while speaking to his wife, 27-year-old Kendra Duggar.Joseph's cousin, Amy Duggar, looked almost gleeful in a TikTok video posted on Thursday in response to the leaked audio.'Joe says he’s having trouble sleeping,' Amy said in her video, before adding bluntly, 'Nobody cares.''I bet the victim hasn't slept in five years,' Amy said in a more serious tone.The Daily Mail has reached out to Joseph Duggar's representative for comment and has yet to hear back. Joseph — who was released from jail this week on a $600,000 bond — was arrested on March 25 in Tonitown, Arkansas, after a 14-year-old girl accused him of touching her on her underwear and [private] when she was only nine years old. The Daily Mail confirmed two days before his court appearance that Duggar had submitted a written plea of not guilty to all charges in a document signed by his attorney, in which he also waived arraignment on the charges and demanded a jury trial. Reported ComplaintsIn audio of his phone call, the 19 Kids And Counting star reportedly told Kendra that his time being held at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas had been 'miserable' because of all the commotion he allegedly experienced while trying to sleep.'I felt like [the] past two nights, like not last night, but the two nights before that, there [were] people up all night, and it was really loud and stuff, but so I didn’t get good sleep,' said Joseph. 'So yesterday was a little bit more miserable.'Joseph returned to the subject of his poor sleep in a subsequent call to his wife, in which he vented about a fellow inmate who allegedly threw a 'tantrum' that lasted 'two to three hours' into the night as he was trying to sleep.'I didn’t get much sleep last night. There [were] some tantrums happening. All day yesterday, there’s one guy having this whole tantrum thing,' he said in audio obtained by Us Weekly. 'I was kind of waiting till he went to sleep.'Joseph said that once the inmate 'got all processed through,' he was able to fall asleep 'for just a little while,' though he didn't 'know how long' he managed to sleep.He added that another inmate was 'talking really loud, and they’re having to de-escalate him the whole time, and every other word was the F-word type thing.'Joseph went on to claim to his Kendra that he tried to read his Bible to keep his mind off the foul-mouthed explosions from other inmates. Amy's ResponseIn his cousin Amy's response to his complaints, she urged her 211,000 followers to focus on Joseph's alleged victim's well-being.'Trauma doesn’t clock out, it doesn’t take nights off. It follows you into your sleep, into your dreams, into your bed, into your daytime, into every minute of the day,' she said while adopting a more somber tone and gazing into the camera.'This is why we cannot normalize a surface-level apology because the pain, Joe, doesn’t disappear just because you’re in jail,' she added.Amy has been a fierce critic of her cousin Joseph, whom she lambasted late last month in response to his claims that he had been reading the Bible in jail.'OK, I just had to get something off my chest real quick. The bible is not a PR strategy. You can read scripture day and night, all the time, and still avoid the truth. I mean, highlighting verses isn’t going to rewrite your actions. We cannot use faith as a cover-up,' she said in an Instagram video on March 29. 'So, God isn’t impressed by your reading.'Amy said that God was 'impressed with transformation. He’s impressed when someone steps out and literally heals by telling the truth.' 'If there’s no change in your life, then there’s no real repentance,' she declared, adding, 'You shall know them by their fruit. Can I get an amen?' Leaked AudioIn other leaked audio of Joseph's phone calls to Kendra, he could be heard saying that it's 'busy during the day' at the jail, but he feared that it could also be 'rough being in there.'He said that noise from the inmates surrounding his cell had set him on edge.'Sometimes I can’t even hear myself think whenever they’re next door,' he said, claiming that their chatter felt 'like getting hit by a jackhammer.'In audio obtained by TMZ, Joseph's wife Kendra told him that his family still loved him, 'even if they're disappointed.''That's how things are,' she added.'Oh, I understand. I understand the disappointment,' Joseph responded.'Just understand that they love you, too,' Kendra continued.'Oh, yeah, absolutely, I feel that,' Joseph replied. 'I'm not upset or anything like that.'In a March 22 call between the married couple that was obtained by People, Kendra confirmed to Joseph that their four children had been moved out of their home after her arrest on Friday, March 20, following a search of their home by the Tontitown Police Department and the Arkansas Department of Human Services.She was subsequently charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment, and Joseph is now facing the same charges. Duggar Released on Bond Ahead of TrialDespite being arrested shortly after her husband was taken into custody, the charges are allegedly unrelated to the molestation claims against Joseph. 'From what I hear they are doing good,' Kendra said of the children while speaking to Joseph on the phone.Duggar got a respite from the stresses of life in jail after his attorney, Albert Sauline, told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that the former reality star was released on a $600,000 bond after appearing in front of a judge.Duggar had previously submitted a written not guilty plea, and he requested that his case be heard by a jury.The former reality star, who subsequently flew back home to Arkansas, is due back in court on April 20.As part of his release, Judge Brantley Clark forbade Duggar from having any unsupervised contact with persons under 18, according to court documents. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Sauline said, 'Our number one concern is making sure that Mr. Duggar is treated fairly, notwithstanding his celebrity status from being on television. 'We are very blessed to have very professional prosecutors and excellent judges in this part of Florida. I have full confidence that he will be treated fairly.'Jim Bob Duggar and wife Michelle break silence after son Joseph's arrestJim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar say they're 'heartbroken' following the recent arrest of son Joseph on allegations he [expletive] a nine-year-old girl in 2020.Jim Bob, 60, and Michelle, 59, issued a statement through a spokesperson acknowledging the latest series of events, which culminated in Joseph's [expletive] arrest on March 18 in connection with a 2020 incident involving a nine-year-old girl.Joseph's wife Kendra, 27, was subsequently arrested March 20 in connection with endangering the welfare of a minor and false imprisonment, both in the second degree, the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas announced.'Right now, they are focused on loving their family and helping Kendra and her children during this difficult time,' a spokesperson for Jim Bob and Michelle told in a statement.Read the full story here
