Reality star and father of 12, Toby Willis, has been arrested for allegedly raping a child. He has been held in police custody without bail.
Toby Willis, 46, has been nabbed in Kentucky over the weekend as he tried to escape. He is being charged with raping an underage girl 12 years ago, The Hollywood Life reported. Now in Muhlenberg County Jail in Kentucky as a fugitive, he is supposed to be transferred to his hometown in Nashville, where he will be held in Cheatham County Jail without bail.
According to the reports, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations found out that he had a sexual encounter with a child 12 years ago. They started their investigations on Willis' case in late August.
Toby Willis is married to wife Brenda Willis. His whole family, which consists of 12 children, were finalists of "America's Got Talent" Season 9 in 2014 as a country music band. They were featured in TLC's reality TV, "The Willis Family," which followed their musical journey. The show aired for two seasons until April this year. It was not renewed for another run, as confirmed by the network back in May as their ratings were not good, according to Us Weekly.
After the news broke, TLC told the media that they did a thorough background check on the entire Willis clan, but they found nothing. The network said they were "shocked to hear the news" of Toby's rape case.
Toby and Brenda's children were ages five to 24, eight girls and four boys. This is not the first time that a TLC reality star has been involved in such scandal. Last year, "19 Kids and Counting" star Josh Duggar got involved in a child molestation, which also involved his own sisters. The blunder led to the cancellation of the Duggar family's reality show.
