Dougherty Dozen’s Alex Dougherty Speaks Out Following Younger Brother James’ Arrest for Alleged Public Lewdness

Alex addressed the situation on a Kick livestream after an Ontario County Sheriff’s report said James was found masturbating in his car

NEED TO KNOW

• Alex Dougherty, of the viral internet family the Dougherty Dozen, is speaking out following the arrest of his brother, James
• Alex addressed the situation while streaming live on Kick, after commenters left questions wondering about his younger brother
• Last week, James was arrested on charges of public lewdness after police say he was found masturbating in his car outside a mall

Alex Dougherty, of the viral, internet-famous family known as the Dougherty Dozen, is responding after his brother James was arrested on charges of public lewdness in Victor, N.Y. last week.

While live-streaming on his Kick channel on July 31, Alex, 20, addressed the situation after commenters continued to leave questions and comments in the chat urging him to speak about it.

“Guys, I support James, okay guys? And, I’m here for him and everything like that. So, end of discussion,” said Alex, while eating pizza on a livestream at a Giordano’s Pizza in Chicago. “He’s okay. He’s fine.”

Alex also appeared to have enabled settings on his livestream that intentionally muted the name “James” from being commented, prior to addressing the incident.

Last week, James, 19, was arrested at Eastview Mall in Victor around 3:32 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, according to a press release from the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department obtained by PEOPLE.

The press release said James had been found masturbating in his vehicle in the parking lot of the mall “in view of the public” and was taken into custody. He was issued an appearance ticket and is set to return to Victor Town Court at a later date.

PEOPLE reached out to the Dougherty family for comment at the time but did not immediately hear back.

James and Alex’s parents, Alicia and Josh, are known for documenting their life as a family of 13 online. On YouTube, the family boasts 1.64 million subscribers and breaks down how they run their household with their many children. Though the family is known as the Dougherty Dozen, they branded the name before their son Dayshawn, 16, was adopted, but decided not to change the name further.

Alicia and Josh met in college, where both were pursuing teaching degrees and married soon after they graduated in 2003. The couple struggled with infertility and recurring pregnancy loss before deciding to look into foster care and adoption routes.

In a 2025 Facebook post, the couple explained the dynamics of how their large family came to be. The pair adopted Alex in 2011, when he was five years old, after navigating years of infertility and pregnancy loss.

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However, just after adopting Alex, they found out that they were pregnant with their daughter Zoey, who is now 14. Around Zoey’s first birthday, the couple adopted James, who was 6 at the time. And just two weeks later, the two found out that Alicia was pregnant with Dash, now 12.

“The next year we were asked to take Foster Care placement of Jason and Jordan ‘for 5 days.’ Well, 5 days turned into forever, and we eventually adopted the twins,” they wrote on Facebook. Later, Alicia gave birth to Bodhi in 2016, and Harlee Quinton in 2018 and adopted children Bree and Patrick in 2019, who were 8 and 11 years old at that point.

“And then in the Spring of 2022 we were asked to take Kinship Placement of Dayshawn, and we now have Permanent Custody,” the post concluded.