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Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events


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1 hour ago, Zella said:

I don't think they are looking at deeds.

The screenshot of the map on the article is from the property assessor site, and I think that is where they are getting their info, not the deed directly. 

I know folks have said that wording on a deed is common, and I will defer to them on that because I don't deal with deeds. But I've done my fair share of snooping on the assessor site for years, and that is not a common designation on there for a sale, at least not in what I have found over the years. It's almost always a dollar amount as in a legit sale price. But maybe the properties I have snooped out were less invested in concealing sales. 

The location of that property is really interesting. It's on Beaver Lake and is rather removed from the rest of the family's residences. Before Jill and Derick moved to their subdivision, they were in Sonora, and this is farther east than even there. It's not an epic distance to travel, but it's about 30 minutes away from the TTH. Like they have to drive through all of Springdale and then some to get there.  

Was that the place in Siloam Springs? Because that's where their house with land was located.

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Just now, emmawoodhouse said:

Was that the place in Siloam Springs? Because that's where their house with land was located.

No Siloam Springs is west of Springdale on the OK border. This is east of Springdale. 

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Just now, emmawoodhouse said:

Is this the new property? I'm so confused! 😂

Sorry I didn't mean to do Who's on First! The new property is east of Springdale on the lake and not in or near Siloam Springs. 

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4 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

Damn, Stan built a fortress in those poor neighbor's backyards. I wonder if Anna realizes it will be hard for Josh to find a place to live once he is convicted and eventually realized. Won't be able to be around kids. There goes live in the TTH, or with family.

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2 hours ago, Jeeves said:

I think we've discussed the deed language of "one dollar and other valuable consideration" around here before. IIRC someone here had sold their mother's house in Arkansas and the deed they signed had that "one dollar" language although the sale price was not one dollar. This "one dollar" red herring is almost worthy of some kind of sticky note, lol.

That's me.  Yes, I did and have the documents in my closet still showing the one dollar and other valuable consideration.  That's how their house was bought also.  

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16 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Totally agree with this. My point wasn't that neglecting the kids is okay. My point was, it doesn't appear there's any evidence of this. I don't think letting her boys stay with the Wallers for a week is farming out her kids. Other than that, I've seen her kids at a baseball game with the Duggar family one day, Michael with his uncle one day and Meredith with Jana one day. For all we know, or at least I know, Anna is neglecting Josh. 

It seems to me, some things that start out as speculation become fact. That's why I asked in my previous post if some info about Anna neglecting her kids was seen on other sites. Anna neglecting her kids would certainly bother me. I just haven't seen it.

Came back to add, I haven't seen any post on here saying its okay for Josh to be around his kids or any kids.

There have been a number of interviews in which sources who know the family state that Anna is spending most of her time at the Reber house with Josh. Many of them have been mentioned in this thread.

I don’t think anyone has come out and said it was great for JB, Michelle, and Anna to let Josh be around their kids, but there have been a number of posts that minimize their poor decision making in this area. People have said that JB and Michelle did the best they could (they didn’t), that the consequences they imposed were harsh and appropriate to Josh’s wrongdoing (they weren’t), that the steps they took were more than other families did (sadly probably true but still utterly inadequate), claiming there was nothing that could have been done to stop Josh (not true), saying Anna can’t help it because she’s brainwashed (again, sadly probably true but still utterly inadequate), chiding Anna’s detractors by saying the past months have been horrible for Anna (who cares, she still needs to protect her damn kids), etc. 

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Thanks for the clarifications about the property documents, @Zella. I've seen so many stories and posts about those "one dollar" boilerplate wills that I assumed this was just another one. TBH I give you more credit for knowing what documents to look at than the Sun stringer, who may have just looked at the deed anyway. If the land was valued or appraised at $35K not long ago and the transfer price is noted in relevant filings as $100 or less, as described above, then maybe it was one piece of a more complex transaction. Or just shenanigans, or the Duggar LLC got a real steal on the deal.

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52 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

Thanks for the clarifications about the property documents, @Zella. I've seen so many stories and posts about those "one dollar" boilerplate wills that I assumed this was just another one. TBH I give you more credit for knowing what documents to look at than the Sun stringer, who may have just looked at the deed anyway. If the land was valued or appraised at $35K not long ago and the transfer price is noted in relevant filings as $100 or less, as described above, then maybe it was one piece of a more complex transaction. Or just shenanigans, or the Duggar LLC got a real steal on the deal.

I'm now really curious how the assessor website handles when someone does the boilerplate language on the deed! 

It wouldn't surprise me if there was some weirdness afoot, though, especially since it seems like a new LLC did the purchase. Also the trailer listed has rather small square footage for 8 people. I'll have to check but I want to say it was less than 1300 square feet. 

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I'm looking at the assessor website right now, and it is 1216 square feet. What is interesting to me is when the property was sold back in the 90s, it went for $40,000. Not sure if that was what it was appraised for, but a few years ago, it was appraised at $23,000.

A lot of times around here, the property rate, though it is cheap compared to the rest of the country, has really skyrocketed since the 90s but doesn't seem to be the case here. (I assume the fact it is a mobile home is one reason.) Not a great comparison since it's a much larger home but more typical is a neighboring property on Zillow that was sold for $19,000 in 2003 and then sold for $275,000 last year. 

I wonder if they were planning this as a flip rather than a place to live? 

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13 minutes ago, Zella said:

I wonder if they were planning this as a flip rather than a place to live? 

I was thinking that. If lots in the area now have homes built on them, the plan may be to hold the property for resale, either after building a spec house on it or just waiting for a buyer who wants to build their own home there. They're a family in the real estate business. Unless the Sun cited a source claiming the Duggars intended to live on the property, then they've just assumed rather ignorantly that was the intent. 

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29 minutes ago, Zella said:

I'm now really curious how the assessor website handles when someone does the boilerplate language on the deed! 

It wouldn't surprise me if there was some weirdness afoot, though, especially since it seems like a new LLC did the purchase. Also the trailer listed has rather small square footage for 8 people. I'll have to check but I want to say it was less than 1300 square feet.  

But it has ONE bathroom...for 9 people.  8 if Josh goes to prison.  It's like Anna and Josh are moving backward toward their destitute childhoods.

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1 minute ago, hathorlive said:

But it has ONE bathroom...for 9 people.  8 if Josh goes to prison.  It's like Anna and Josh are moving backward toward their destitute childhoods.

I really don't think they intend to live there. The Duggars are in the real estate business, buying and selling property all the time. If I bought a house it's a safe assumption I intend to live there. When any of the Duggars' LLCs buys a property with a house on it? Not such a safe assumption. For me a house would be a home. For them it's just as likely to be inventory. 

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6 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

I was thinking that. If lots in the area now have homes built on them, the plan may be to hold the property for resale, either after building a spec house on it or just waiting for a buyer who wants to build their own home there. They're a family in the real estate business. Unless the Sun cited a source claiming the Duggars intended to live on the property, then they've just assumed rather ignorantly that was the intent. 

Whoever wrote it was probably just looking for stuff with Josh's and/or Anna's name on it.  They probably had no idea about the crazy history of the llcs as the JB beat-the-tax-code shell game, appearing and disappearing and shifting in and out of various people's names with no actual connection to those people at all. 

Edited by Churchhoney
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3 minutes ago, hathorlive said:

But it has ONE bathroom...for 9 people.  8 if Josh goes to prison.  It's like Anna and Josh are moving backward toward their destitute childhoods.

Yes it just seems horribly impractical. That's why I'm thinking flip with the end game plan of removing the trailer. I think @Jeeves's guesses are pretty solid. If they were planning to move there, that seems like an act of sheer desperation. And I don't say that to knock trailers! I've lived in my fair share. But it would be a nightmare to cram that many people in that space.

Edited by Zella
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1 minute ago, Zella said:

Yes it just seems horribly impractical. That's why I'm thinking flip with the end game plan of removing the trailer. I think @Jeeves's guesses are pretty solid. If they were planning to move there, that seems like an act of sheer desperation. And I don't say that to knock trailers! I've lived in my faor share. But it would be a nightmare to cram that many people in that space.

We call it a nightmare, the Duggars call it living close as a family!  I agree that it seems like a flip. Because why would Anna live so far away from all her built in babysitters?  I just wonder why all the LLCs.  I thought at first it was a way to hide assets in case Josh was sued by all the people who have tried to sue him.  But now it seems like they are using Anna to move things around in an elaborate shell game.  This is NOT my strong point.  I take the forensics from cases like this an send it to our financial ex-IRS agent who works down the hall.  He can trace a money trail like nobody's business.

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14 minutes ago, hathorlive said:

We call it a nightmare, the Duggars call it living close as a family!  I agree that it seems like a flip. Because why would Anna live so far away from all her built in babysitters?  I just wonder why all the LLCs.  I thought at first it was a way to hide assets in case Josh was sued by all the people who have tried to sue him.  But now it seems like they are using Anna to move things around in an elaborate shell game.  This is NOT my strong point.  I take the forensics from cases like this an send it to our financial ex-IRS agent who works down the hall.  He can trace a money trail like nobody's business.

I wish I had the training and aptitude for that kind of sleuthing, but I know my limits, lol. JB has been using LLCs for years and years now, with some of his kids becoming involved in them as they have reached adulthood. As we know, to form and maintain an LLC in Arkansas (and most if not all US states), you need to provide fairly minimal information to the state government. Since a Duggar LLC is a privately held business entity, the details of its doings won't be in the public record except for required filings of deeds, tax assessments, and the like. Who really owns the beneficial interest in any of those LLCs is I think a matter that may be known to the persons involved and maybe the IRS via tax returns. Not easy, and probably in many instances not even legal, for random members of the public to ferret out that information. Sigh. @Churchhoney has IMO the right take on the LLCs, as JB's ongoing manipulation of properties and assets to win at tax reduction and heaven knows what else. Could be to "shelter" assets against lawsuits, etc., as well.

It occurred to me that the property we've been talking about, could also be rented out while the LLC is holding it. I don't know if the Sun checked to see if anyone's living there now. It's possible there's a tenant in place who's going to stay on so the property would generate some income.

Edited by Jeeves
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On 8/5/2021 at 4:45 PM, Spazamanaz said:

But why would he even care if they shaved the babysitters head? I'm curious as to why that would make him cave. 

I think he had been standing up there a ;long time and finally caved to get it over with and be done

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LLC’s are usually formed for legitimate business reasons, but the sheer volume that are started and closed with various Duggars  really smells like legal or tax shenanigans. We’ve discussed a lot of this before, but anyone buying a house or land to use as their principal residence would not use an LLC as a way to do this. There would be no tax or legal benefit to do so. So if Anna has an LLC to buy some land with a mobile home on it, there would be no reason except Jim Boob manipulations or control , for her to use that property as her residence. I could see Boob telling Anna some tale or another that he is only looking out for her, but I imagine he’s not really.

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In addition to tax benefits another benefit in forming an LLC - Limited Liability Company - is it separates business assets from personal assets, so if you're sued they can only go after the business - it limits liability. But my understanding is, that's if you're sued because of a business transaction, like if a client sued a therapist in private practice, or a car buyer sued a car lot. I never thought of it working in reverse, like if a person was sued for say, monetary damages for sexual assault, maybe they can't go after any business profits from an LLC?

Also an LLC doesn't need a brick and mortar address. Like if Zella and I went into private practice as therapists, the LLC would follow us if we changed locations. So I think with the Duggars, the addresses (or real estate) we are seeing, are part of the business, not the business address, which makes it more confusing.

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9 hours ago, mynextmistake said:

There have been a number of interviews in which sources who know the family state that Anna is spending most of her time at the Reber house with Josh. Many of them have been mentioned in this thread.

I don’t think anyone has come out and said it was great for JB, Michelle, and Anna to let Josh be around their kids, but there have been a number of posts that minimize their poor decision making in this area. People have said that JB and Michelle did the best they could (they didn’t), that the consequences they imposed were harsh and appropriate to Josh’s wrongdoing (they weren’t), that the steps they took were more than other families did (sadly probably true but still utterly inadequate), claiming there was nothing that could have been done to stop Josh (not true), saying Anna can’t help it because she’s brainwashed (again, sadly probably true but still utterly inadequate), chiding Anna’s detractors by saying the past months have been horrible for Anna (who cares, she still needs to protect her damn kids), etc. 

Oh okay, I never believe anything written in those articles, many of which cite "fans" as their source of information, which is likely sites like this one and responses to IG posts, so I don't see those as verification Anna has been neglecting their kids.

As far as minimizing any of the situations Anna and the rest have been in, I've only read on here opinions, nothing stated as fact. Like its your opinion that JB & M did not do the best they could. I think they likely did, but their best was not great. I don't think they're very skilled at parenting and in my experience as a therapist, even the most skilled parents with lots of support and resources would have had a tough time navigating the molestations.

And I'm curious, you believe Josh could have been stopped, how is it you think that could have happened? 

And lastly, like I said in my previous post, Anna isn't the one charged with a crime. She could be charged with being an idiot, but not downloading CSA. And back to what I said above, I have no evidence that Anna is not protecting her kids at this time, or at any other time. In fact the evidence leads the other way, as she still has custody of them.

Edited by GeeGolly
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13 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

But my understanding is, that's if you're sued because of a business transaction, like if a client sued a therapist in private practice, or a car buyer sued a car lot. I never thought of it working in reverse, like if a person was sued for say, monetary damages for sexual assault, maybe they can't go after any business profits from an LLC?

Yes LLCs work in reverse. If Josh (the biological person) was sued civilly for something, assets held by Josh Duggar LLC, Josh Duggar 1 LLC, Josh Duggar 2 LLC etc cannot be seized to pay those damages. That’s why so many people place their assets in several LLCs, your personal property (owned by the biological person) and property outside of the specific LLC involved in the litigation is safe.

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of the 6 current LLCs i can see for Anna today, 4 have Anna as owner/incorporator, along with a financial group as manager. 1 has Anna as owner/Incorporator and Travis Story as manager. 1 has just Anna and Josh listed as joint owner/incorporator.

There were 2 other LLCs in Anna's name, but they have both been dissolved

Josh's little shack of a car lot is registered under an LLC called Fivestone Group that has the TTH address, but agents listed are Travis Story, the same financial group on Anna's LLCs and Duggar acct for all things LLC, Jimmy Burns.

Edited by crazy8s
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2 minutes ago, Dianaofthehunt said:

Superb LLC sleuths on this site!
Now all we need is a tiny fly-drone to record what goes on in the Reber so-not-a-mansion. I want to know what Mrs. Reber is thinking. 

I want to know what Mrs. Reber is going to do when Anna decides that the next blessing has to be born with his dad in the room and all the Duggars descend for the toilet birth.

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I find the reporting about him already having a lawyer as fishy incredibly disingenious. Having a personal attorney doesn't automatically make you a criminal. I assume Josh meant Story when he said he wanted to call his lawyer. If he already had the federal attorney who specializes in getting people clearer on child pornogaphy charges on speed dial, well, yeah, that makes you wonder. But even then, you do have a right to an attorney. 

I think the motions saying Josh's rights were violated by not being able to use that phone to call his attorney ridiculous, but it is equally ridiculous for people to write articles in which the underlying logic is that having an attorney and calling them when you are clearly under investigation means you are inherently guilty. 

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14 minutes ago, Namaste said:

Will Josh be allowed to live with his minor children after he serves his prison sentence (if convicted)? Thank you. 

I don't think so. He'd have to register as a sex offender, and such people can't be anywhere near children.

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Just now, hathorlive said:

Also, when the police show up at your door with a warrant to seize your electronic devices, NO, you aren't allowed to use them for ANY reason.  We had a guy who started having a panic attack and no, he wasn't allowed to use his phone to call his mom, his doctor, or anyone else.  It's so annoying when people act like he was denied a lawyer.  He was denied using that phone to call a lawyer.  But if you are Josh and you don't have your lawyer on speed dial on every phone you have, then you are an idiot.   Josh had the ability to remain silent.  Or walk off.  But he thought he could talk his way out of it and he made a huge mistake.  But there was nothing illegal about that.

Yeah I actually wonder if he asked for a lawyer not because he intended to call but because he thought he could do something sneaky with the phone and was floored when they told him no. LOL 

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7 hours ago, hathorlive said:

I'm pretty sure Josh isn't used to be told no by anyone.  

I agree, which is why I think any prison sentence measured in years is going to be very difficult for Josh.  If he thought rehab/Jesus Jail was bad, just wait.

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10 hours ago, hathorlive said:

Who knows what goes through Josh's air head.  We've had people try to run to the toilet to flush them.  We've had people slam them against the wall.  I just sent two phones to a coworker who can extract them with shattered, nonresponsive touch screens.  But as a general rule, we don't let you near the evidence.  I'm pretty sure Josh isn't used to be told no by anyone.  

There was just a case in Southern MD.  A JUDGE was being investigated for child porn.  They let him go into the bedroom with his phone to change to be taken down for questioning.   He ATE the sim card.  MONTHS later when they went to arrest him, they just surrounded the house and ask him to come out.  that gave him a chance to commit suicide rather than be arrested.   Oh the judge was white in case anyone was wondering.

TOPIC:   Having a lawyer or asking for one rather than just asking the nice law enforcement officers questions is NOT a sign of guilt.  It is a sign you are exercising your Constitutional rights.   Funny how Josh knows THAT right but kinda overlooks the rights anyone has.

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11 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

There was just a case in Southern MD.  A JUDGE was being investigated for child porn.  They let him go into the bedroom with his phone to change to be taken down for questioning.   He ATE the sim card.  MONTHS later when they went to arrest him, they just surrounded the house and ask him to come out.  that gave him a chance to commit suicide rather than be arrested.   Oh the judge was white in case anyone was wondering.

TOPIC:   Having a lawyer or asking for one rather than just asking the nice law enforcement officers questions is NOT a sign of guilt.  It is a sign you are exercising your Constitutional rights.   Funny how Josh knows THAT right but kinda overlooks the rights anyone has.

I could have saved him the trouble.  The SIM card contains very little information of value.  Usually it has the MSISDN (the phone number).  A long time ago it had sms and call logs, but that's not been the case for years.  Now if he had a micro SD card, that might be a good move. But then they put you in a room with a special toilet until you pass the card.   Of course it's a moot point if he killed himself.  We had a guy on the State police named Clyde and every time he interviewed some one, they killed themselves.  So we called him Suicide Clyde.  They stopped sending him on interviews.

It's like Duggar time.  There are rules and rights for god's chosen family and then there are rules for the rest of us.  I guess Meech knew what she was talking about when she made robo calls talking about pedophiles.

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2 hours ago, ginger90 said:

What has received comparatively less attention is the fact that had his crimes been properly reported and investigated before the statute of limitations ran out, his parents could have lost the ability to homeschool while  he was in the household. Arkansas is one of two states that prohibits homeschooling in households that include registered sex offenders.

Because homeschooling removes children from the regular contact with mandatory reporters other school-aged children receive at school, we support laws that restrict homeschooling when a registered sex offender resides in the home. Given their relative isolation, homeschooled children are more vulnerable to exploitation. 

I wonder if Jim Bob and Michelle knew this and if it wasn't a factor in their decision to keep everything quiet and deal with Josh's crimes privately within the Fundie community. Of course, they would have done that anyway, but the possibility of losing their precious "right" to keep their children isolated and prevent them from learing about the outside world would have been a powerful motivation.

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I didn't read the article, but would Josh have had to register as a sex offender?

The laws are different in each state and vary even more for minors. In some states a minor would need to be convicted of a crime before having to register and there's no guarantee that Josh's offenses would have been addressed in criminal court, even if it had been reported to the police. In some states judges have wide discretion on who needs to register. I believe the laws have changed a lot in some states over time as well. I have no idea what AR's laws were then, or now.

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32 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I didn't read the article, but would Josh have had to register as a sex offender?

The laws are different in each state and vary even more for minors. In some states a minor would need to be convicted of a crime before having to register and there's no guarantee that Josh's offenses would have been addressed in criminal court, even if it had been reported to the police. In some states judges have wide discretion on who needs to register. I believe the laws have changed a lot in some states over time as well. I have no idea what AR's laws were then, or now.

From my understanding, at that time, Josh would have gone through an assessment, and then it would be up to the Judge to decide if he was required to register.

Edited by ginger90
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The article, which was published in 2015, says this -- "Arkansas is one of two states that prohibits homeschooling in households that include registered sex offenders." *the other state was Pennsylvania) 

And of course they only note that the Duggs COULD have lost the ability to homeschool -- had he been declared a registered offender. 

The homeschool rules shift a lot and I don't know how often they update everything on their site. But the group that wrote the article try hard to keep a high standard of accuracy, so I'm sure they were correct about Arkansas law at the time, at least. ... And since a law like that was so rare and was probably enacted in response to some hideous event or other, it seems that it's probably a hard one to convince legislators to repeal, once you've got it on the books

As of 2020, HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association), said that if you;re in Arkansas and have a registered sex offender living in your home, you should "seek individualized guidance" about starting a homeschool......So it sounds as if something is still on the books, although maybe it has loopholes added or something. 

 

Edited by Churchhoney
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2 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

A leghumper had this novel solution for Anna should Smuggar go to prison. 

 

FB_IMG_1633196754245.jpg

Now THAT'S a show I would watch:  Sister wives Michelle and Anna share Jim-Bob.  If he divorced Michelle and married Anna it would be legal and everything.  Until Michelle snapped anyway; it would be UGLY. 

Unless they did it "Handmaid's Tale"-style, with Michelle claiming she had the child and so forth, which I think might be a lot more likely.  I probably wouldn't watch that one.

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45 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

A leghumper had this novel solution for Anna should Smuggar go to prison. 

 

FB_IMG_1633196754245.jpg

Honestly, I think that JB would jump at this solution, and it's certainly very "Biblical."

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