Some of the more disconcerting aspects of this story are what seems to have been favorable treatment by Arkansas cops and police statements which indicate that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar knew about this in 2002 and waited over a year before contacting the police.

And the first, initial "contacting" of the police wasn't exactly kosher either.



Josh Duggar was investigated for multiple sex offenses — including forcible fondling — against five minors. Some of the alleged offenses investigated were felonies. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were interview by the Springdale Police department on Dec. 12, 2006. The report says that James told police he was alerted in March, 2002 by a female minor that Josh — who turned 14-years-old that month — had been touching her breasts and genitals while she slept. This allegedly happened on multiple occasions. In 2006, Jim Bob told police that in July, 2002 Josh admitted to fondling a minor’s breasts while she slept. “James said that they disciplined (redacted, Josh) after this incident.” The family did not alert authorities. Jim Bob told police that about nine months later in March, 2003 “there was another incident.” Josh was again accused by a female minor of touching her breasts and genitals. Josh was accused by several minors of touching their genitals, often when they slept, but at times when they were awake. Jim Bob then “met with the elders of his church and told them what was going on.” No one alerted the police or any other law enforcement agency. Instead they decided to send Josh to a “program [that] consisted of hard physical work and counseling. James said that [redacted, Josh] was in the program from March 17, 2003 until July 17, 2003.” He said the program was a “Christian program.” Michelle Duggar later admitted to police that Josh did not receive counseling and instead had been sent during that time to a family friend who was in the home remodeling business.

The first time the police became involved was in 2003, when Jim Bob and church elders took Josh to Arkansas State Trooper Jim Hutchens. According to the police report , Hutchens was a personal friend of Jim Bob, and his way of dealing with the situation was a “very stern talk” and no charges. Hutchens is no longer a state trooper, and is presently serving 56 years in prison for child pornography.

A formal investigation of the Duggars didn't occur until 2006. Just before an appearance by the family on the Oprah Winfrey Show, an anonymous tip from "a 61-year-old woman" informed the show about Josh's misconduct. The Duggars canceled the interview with Oprah, and Oprah's people forwarded the tip to Arkansas' Department of Human Services, which led to police interest in these incidents. However, no charges were ever filed because the statute of limitations had been exceeded.

"Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends," Josh, 27, tells PEOPLE in a statement. "I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life."

"Jim Bob was in the state legislature during my tenure as governor, and he and Michelle and their very large brood of children really are amazing people. Like the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty fame, the Duggars reflect all that is good and decent about family. They pray, go to church (and not just for TV), they work hard, they don't take handouts to care for their large number of children, but instead truly model their behavior of a family who helps each other, respects each other, and loves each other and whose entire family revolves around their deep and authentic Christian faith."

—Mike Huckabee, page 141 of his book God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy

"Karen and I have gotten to know the Duggar family, particularly Michelle and Jim Bob, personally over the last few years and have been inspired by their amazing family. They have chosen to raise their children in a faith-filled home, encouraging kindness and generosity, to work hard and to have a fun-loving spirit. They are a wonderful family, and Karen and I support them and encourage folks to stand with the Duggars against these ridiculous attacks from the Left.”

—Rick Santorum, November 25, 2014

"Even if an alcoholic is powerless over alcohol once it enters his body, he still makes a choice to drink. And, even if someone is attracted to a person of the same sex, he or she still makes a choice to engage in sexual activity with someone of the same gender."

—Rick Perry, from his book On My Honor

"I was disappointed that Bruce Willis was not available to be a fifth witness on the panel. There probably is no doubt that actually Hollywood has done more to focus attention on this issue than perhaps a thousand congressional hearings could do."

—Ted Cruz, on space threats

"I think traditional marriage is a sacrament. It’s talking about being formed by one’s faith, it’s at the core of the Catholic faith and to imagine how we are going to succeed in our country unless we have committed family life, committed child-centered family system is hard to imagine."

—Jeb Bush, on his "concern" about the issue of marriage

“Don’t always look to Washington to solve anything. In fact, the moral crisis we have in our country, there is a role for us trying to figure out things like marriage, there’s also a moral crisis that allows people to think that there would be some sort of other marriage. We need a revival in the country. We need another Great Awakening with tent revivals of thousands of people saying, ‘reform or see what’s going to happen if we don’t reform.'"

—Rand Paul, March 26, 2015

Of course, over the past few years, Josh Duggar has parleyed his family's fame into fighting for family values by standing alongside the usual suspects of Republican idiots.Of the assorted Republican brain trust above, only Huckabee has come forward to defend Josh Duggar and the Duggar family. Huckabee posted a statement on his Facebook account Friday, in which he writes that "good people make mistakes," and accused those that made the accusations public of having an "insensitive bloodthirst" to discredit Josh Duggar.TLC has pulled , and released a statement to the media professing that the network is "deeply saddened and troubled by this heartbreaking situation." However, episodes ofare still streaming on TLC's website. Even though the series is TLC's highest rated program, there are also reports of advertisers (e.g., General Mills) walking away from the show, and pulling their ads from future airings. This came after TLC ran amarathon Thursday night, which in light of the molestations received backlash across social networks.

One aspect of this mess which remains unclear is when was TLC made aware of these accusations, since there have been rumors of misconduct that have appeared online in the past, and this is not the first TLC series to suffer a sex scandal concerning child molestation. About a year ago, TLC canceled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo after reports surfaced that a convicted child molester had been brought into the home, and an underage girl who was part of the show and living in the home, was one of the molester's victims.