Ark. police destroy Duggar's record

Jayme Deerwester | USA TODAY

Arkansas police have destroyed the records of Josh Duggar's nearly decade-old molestation case.

Springdale Police spokesman Scott Lewis told the Associated Press that Judge Stacey Zimmerman ordered the 2006 offense report destroyed Thursday. Zimmerman didn't return a request for comment on Friday.

"The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record," Lewis said, adding that similar records are typically kept indefinitely. "As far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn't exist."

The move came a day after the 19 Kids and Counting reality TV personality resigned his position as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council after news of sexual misconduct allegations from his teenage years surfaced.

Meanwhile, TMZ is reporting that Duggar has withdrawn from an Ohio homeschooling convention he'd been scheduled to attend.

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which obtained the offense report before its destruction, reports Duggar was accused of fondling five girls in 2002 and 2003. Duggar issued an apology Thursday on Facebook. On Friday, TLC, the network that airs 19 Kids, announced they are pulling reruns from their schedule. (The 10th season concluded on May 19.)

Springdale Police began investigating Duggar in 2006 when officers were alerted to a letter containing the allegations that was found in a book lent by a family friend to someone else.

The report, originally published by tabloid In Touch Weekly, states that a member of Harpo Studios, the producer of Oprah Winfrey's then show, received an email containing the allegations before the family was set to appear in 2006. The tipster warned producers against allowing the Duggars on the show and studio staff members faxed a copy of the email to Arkansas State Police.

Neither Duggar nor his father, a former state representative, returned calls seeking comment Friday.

Several Arkansas Republicans have rallied behind the Duggar family, which is still engrained in state politics. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar attended the kickoff event earlier this month for Republican presidential nominee Mike Huckabee, who supported the family in a Facebook post on Friday.

"Those who have enjoyed revealing this long ago sins in order to discredit the Duggar family have actually revealed their own insensitive bloodthirst, for there was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed — not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims," Huckabee wrote.

Contributing: The Associated Press