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Josh Duggar, the oldest child on “19 Kids and Counting,” was investigated on claims he molested five minor girls, including his sisters, a bombshell report claims.
According to police documents obtained by In Touch magazine, Josh (who is now a 27-year-old married father of three) was accused of molesting the girls before Springfield, Arkansas, police opened a felony investigation in 2006.
The allegations against Josh, beginning in 2002, include forcible fondling.
The family’s patriarch, Jim Bob, reportedly waited more than a year to contact police after Josh, a minor at the time, confessed to inappropriate touching.
According to the report, Jim Bob told cops a female minor said in March 2002 that Josh had snuck into her room on multiple occasions and touched her breasts and genitals while she slept. Jim Bob also said Josh confessed in July 2002 to fondling a girl’s breasts.
Jim Bob claims to have disciplined Josh but he did not go to authorities at the time.
Nine months later, Josh reportedly touched another girl’s breasts and genitals while reading to her.
Following that incident, Jim Bob spoke to church elders and agreed to put Josh in a 3-month-long Christian treatment program, though Josh’s mother, Michelle Duggar, said Josh was not receiving counseling but rather staying with a family friend.
Shortly afterward, Jim Bob says he spoke to an Arkansas state trooper, family friend Joseph Hutchens, who is now behind bars for child pornography, according to the documents. Hutchens met with Josh and gave him a “stern talk,” but no official report was filed.
https://www.instagram.com/p/1tGdMdOWGa/The investigation was only opened in 2006 after someone tipped off authorities as the family was about to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.
Before the TV interview took place, producers received an email warning them about the allegations against Josh; the network sent the letter to the Department of Human Services.
“You need to know the truth,” the email stated. “They are not what they seem to be … and the parents have been hiding this secret for a long time … I think that you should know the truth before they make a complete fool of you and your show. They have been on TV before and come across as a perfect family, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Josh was never prosecuted and the statute of limitations has run out.
On Thursday, a judge granted an order to have the documents destroyed after one of the alleged victims asked the courts to protect her identity, TMZ reported.
Josh has been married to Anna Keller since 2008 and has three children, two boys and one girl. The couple is expecting another baby girl in July.
TLC, the network behind “19 Kids and Counting,” had no comment about the allegations.