Weeks after she spoke out about being charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, Jana Duggar has taken steps to put this incident behind her.
Court records indicate that, last month, the former Counting On star pleaded guilty to her charge, a Class A misdemeanor she received on September 10, one day after the incident took place. Back in September, Jana had previously pleaded not guilty, and was scheduled to appear in court for a bench trial on January 10.
Court records obtained by The Ashley show that Jana was fined $890 for the crime on December 15. However, as of press time, Jana is listed as “delinquent” due to non-payment.
According to the docket obtained by The Ashley, Jana was due to pay her full fine by December 31.
(It should be mentioned that there is a special notation on the record, stating that the court is requiring Jana to pay her full balance of $890 at once, “most likely due to not meeting previous payment deadlines.”)
After news broke in December that Jana had been charged, the ‘Counting On’ star took to her Instagram Stories to discuss what happened. Jana made it clear that, although she was charged, she was never arrested and hauled off to jail…unlike her older brother, Josh, who is currently sitting behind bars after being convicted of receiving and possessing child sex abuse materials last month.
“I’m only sharing this because the media has been having a field day with it all,” Jana’s Instagram statement began. “I prefer a more private life, but I know my last name means that everything we do is open to public criticism and interest, especially during this time.
“I was babysitting a few months ago and one of the children wandered outside alone,” she wrote. “A passerby who saw the child called the police. This resulted in a written citation, as well as a follow-up with child welfare who concluded that it was an accident and the child was unharmed.
“They recognized it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment. It all happened so quickly and was scary.”
Jana went on to clarify that she was “certainly never arrested like some may have implied.
“In the end I was just upset at myself that it had happened at all, but thankful it all ended safely and that’s truly what mattered the most to me,” Jana wrote.
Online rumors have stated that the runaway child was one of Josh and his wife Anna‘s younger kids, but that has not been confirmed. As The Ashley previously reported, the citation Jana received stated that the child was found on Dowell Road (which is over half a mile away from the Duggar home!)
One day before Jana explained what happened on Instagram, her sister Jessa Seewald took to Instagram Stories to post a message of support to Jana, revealing a few of the details of what went down. (Other Duggar kids, including Jason and James Duggar, also rallied around Jana with support after the news broke.)
“Getting messages about headlines about Jana,” Jessa wrote on Instagram Stories. “Bottom line– it was an innocent mistake. She was babysitting and one of the kids slipped out the door unnoticed, but it ended safely. Could’ve happened to anyone. The media is sensationalizing this because of other current family circumstances and it makes me so mad.”
Jana does not have to do any community service or probation. It appears that once she pays her fine, the matter is considered settled. It is unknown if her previously scheduled hearing will go on as planned January 10, but it’s unlikely.
RELATED STORY: Duggar Siblings & Spouses Continue to Release Statements Following Josh Duggar’s Conviction: “For Josh, We Fear For His Soul”
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
23 Responses
I feel sorry for Janarella. She is brainwashed by her parents and this wacky religion. They have mentally bankrupted her to the point that at 31 years old, she is stuck at home being the nanny and house winch. They didn’t “marry her off” as soon as she could legally vote because they JimBoob and Creepy McWhisper wouldn’t have anyone to “wrangle them youngins”. And now she’s also wrangling her siblings youngins. As if that isn’t bad enough, her “value is depreciating” the older she gets because who wants to court an elder when there are barely legals they can court.
Ugh… throw the entire family/cult away.
This is one sick family.
Kid slips out makes it a half mile away? She never notices. How many freaking kids was she watching? Ffs
It’s not clear that she was watching a child at the Dugger compound. Could have been watching a child at a neighbors home.
Speaking as an internet stranger, my dad resued a girl crawling over a highway underpass at 5 am. My father, an higher up in petroleum exports, knew something was off.
He scooped up the kid and called 911. While this was maybe a decade ago in South Texas, cops came out…
When the cops set out, poor dad was asleep almosy 2 MILES AWAY! No drugs or alcohol – the cops said, he was just living in a cheap side of town and plain exhausted. My dad hailed the hero and no charges against the father.
I feel like we should give her a break. How can they expect her to raise all their kids, remodel their homes, help all her siblings move across the world and back, fix their broken cars, and deliver their babies. A child is bound to slip by a person doing all these things!
At least she admitted fault.
No other Duggar does/will.
Jana needs some people to help with a buddy system. ?
So a person endangers a child and only gets fined in Arkansas? No parenting classes or whatever? I know she probably doesn’t need parenting classes since she raised literally dozens of children but still, if this happened to other person it could have been really dangerous. That child could have ended up kidnapped or worse
This happens in literally every state, and countless countries outside the US too, on a daily basis (children getting out of the house, or away from whoever is looking after them).
In very few instances will anyone ever be charged, not even fined, forget parenting classes. It’s stupid, I agree wholeheartedly, but it’s not reserved to Arkansas alone. Just look at the countless stories of parents “accidentally” leaving children in cars, some of which end up dying because of it. Did you know that not even 10% of those people will ever be charged with anything? All they have to do is say “I forgot” or “it was an accident” and BAM…nothing happens. Did you also know it’s not a crime in most countries, at all to let very young children wander, leave them in vehicles, etc..?
I’m glad she was charged, then fined, because it at least sends a better message than doing nothing at all, which is usually what happens.
Jana is not a parent….
I live in AR and it depends on the circumstances. My then 2 year old got out of the house while I was in the bathroom with my parents in the house. He made it 2 houses down and a cop patrolling saw him and knew where he lived. Brought him home before I was done peeing.
I feel bad for her 🙁 I feel like the parents should have paid the fine, but they obviously didn’t. If the parents were Josh and Anna though, they may have much bigger fines to worry about.
Well she could have plea’d back in September when this happened and then it wouldn’t have piggy backed on the Josh media circus.l in December.
But you chose to play games.
It still would have ridden on the coattails of Josh’s charges and crimes, that has been ongoing since 2019, and the media has been in a tizzy since it all first went down. Anything and everything involving that last name dredges up everything.
Though I do agree, she should have just entered the plea back in September and been done with it. Odds are very good she took the horrible advice of her horrific parents (and their “law minded” friends) and pretended as if it would simply go away in the same way they assume all trouble surrounding them will miraculously vanish into thin air. While it would’ve been nice for her to realize how idiotic that advice was from the get go, its pretty obvious that she realizes it now. They would never “let” (I merely use the term to indicate the power they think they have over their offspring, regardless of age) her enter this plea, she did it of her own free will against their advisement. Since they didn’t want her to make that plea at all, I suspect they’re not that happy with her right now.
I honestly think she’s come to some serious realizations she may have only had inklings about before the last 4 or 5 years. Little signs that your family is full of controlling, manipulative, criminal whackadoos isn’t an instantaneous red flag sort of thing when you spend your entire life in the clutches of a cult, and you’re busy trying to protect those under your wings. I think she’s learning, and it’s probably a very painful process for her.
Nope.
Before the conviction the family was still cocky and confident, they wouldn’t have been this rattled about it.
Nope what?
Neither of her parents wanted her to plead guilty, they still don’t, they have made this abundantly clear. They want no one in their family to ever be held accountable, even by their own selves, for their actions (inaction in this case). That is the only thing that ever rattles them about anything, accountability. It has been for decades now, at this point.
Yes, regardless of when she put in her plea it would still drag on the coattails of Josh’s charges, crimes, and now conviction. Anything any of them do always will, the name alone will always carry the weight of the things not only they have done, or not done, but he has as well, there’s no way around that.
She still should have plead guilty back in September, but your response would only make sense if you’ve never read a single other story about them. I presume that’s not the case, so, where exactly are you going with it?
They probably didn’t think Josh would be convicted, Jim Boob would be a state senator, and then she could have done her trial and gotten off too. But them Joshie went to prison and Jim Boob lost and they figured they better take a deal because the justice system and the people of Arkansas aren’t being nice to the Duggars these days…
Maybe that is why her fine hasn’t been paid. According to Derrick Dillard, Jim Bob controls the purse string. Maybe since she didn’t plead how they wanted her to, they won’t pay her fine. If she doesn’t get it paid, she could fact jail time I believe.
I’m thinking if the child slipped out of the door when her back was turned momentarily (as she stated) the child wouldn’t be over 1/2 miles down the road.
Depending on age of the child they could have gone half a mile fairly quickly. It really is not that far.
You don’t spend much time around children, do you lol? 1/2 mile isn’t nearly as far to a young child as it is a grown adult. The distance may be exactly the same but the DISTANCE really isn’t, lol. A child running outdoors can get oddly far in a relatively short amount of time, especially while you’re busy inside looking for them.
Doesn’t excuse not watching more carefully, of course, personally I wouldn’t trust the safety of any child anywhere on that compound, whether in sight or not. I’m glad she was held accountable, its too bad most of the people in her family aren’t held accountable for their actions in the same way.
A half mile really isn’t very far it’s only 2,640 ft. Say the kid was walking, not running, at 2mph it would have only taken 15 minutes to get that far. There is also a lot of factors that go into how long the child could have been missing unnoticed. Like it’s going to take longer to notice it if you think the 8 year old you are watching is studying bible verses in their room compared to say a 3 year old. How many children were there? How many outdoor exits are there? Were the kids playing hide and seek?These are all factors. It’s not a simple situation. And Jana appears to feel guilty about it and took accountability so that’s something.