Based on court documents obtained, the 60-year-old Blankinship who is from Raleigh, North Carolina was arrested four years ago and charged with 10 felony counts after local authorities discovered a disturbing collection of graphic videos and lewd images of small children in his possession.
The girls in Blankinship’s collection ranged from ages one to 11, and the pictures obtained were quite horrific as most of them show the young girls being forced to engaged in various sexual acts by adult males.
Blankinship was part of the “19 Kids and Counting” editorial staff from 2008 to 2010 before he was indicted. He was eventually sacked from the show after his arrest was made public, but his disturbing interactions with so many kids in the show had obviously raised speculations about his behaviour towards them.
In addition to “19 Kids and Counting,” Blankinship was also involved in other family-based reality TV shows that features numerous children, namely “Kate Plus 8” and “Table for 12.” But when the production firms learned of the shocking allegations against him, his employment was immediately terminated.
Many of the fans of these types of family-based reality shows, particularly the parents, felt absurd about the whole thing just imagining how parents of those kids were feeling when they unknowingly had their kids interacting with a pedophile in disguise.