Josh Duggar confessed to his father Jim Bob Duggar on THREE separate occasions to multiple acts of sexual molestation against his sisters and a family friend, according to a new police report obtained exclusively by In Touch magazine.
The document also makes clear that Josh was 15 years old when he molested his 5-year-old sister and committed at least SEVEN acts of sexual molestation.
The new report is from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and was obtained by In Touch using the Freedom of Information Act. In Touch broke the story about Josh’s dark past and previously obtained and published a Springdale Police Department report about the molestations, also by using FOIA.
With fewer redactions than the first report, the Washington County Sheriff’s document makes it clear that despite Josh’s chilling confessions the Duggars waited at least 16 months before contacting authorities about the molestations, even though the behavior was continuing and growing worse. During that period they did not get professional counseling for Josh or his victims. Legal experts tell In Touch that Jim Bob and Michelle could have faced six years in prison for their inaction, if the statute of limitations had not expired.
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Continue reading at In Touch →The new police report continues to raise questions about why Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar failed to act in alerting authorities despite Josh’s repeated confessions of sexual molestation and why they didn’t do more to protect their daughters.
Josh Duggar, 27, the oldest of the Duggar children from TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” has since resigned from the Family Research Council (FRC), where he has been employed since 2013 as Executive Director FRC Action, the organization’s legislative affiliate.
Josh Duggar has actively campaigned against marriage equality and LGBT rights. He is married with three children.
As Right Wing Watch notes, the FRC regularly paints the LGBT community as a precarious threat to children, and Josh Duggar and his family regularly participate in that rhetoric.
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Last December, Josh Duggar led a successful campaign to defeat an LGBT nondiscrimination measure in Fayetteville, Ark., which he said jeopardized the safety of children.Josh’s wife Anna, 26, reaffirmed her support for her husband after the news of the molestations first broke on May 21, telling PEOPLE magazine that he confessed his “past teenage mistakes” two years before he proposed to her.
Parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar will appear in a Fox News interview on Wednesday evening; it is unclear if the interview will be live or pre-recorded, and if this latest report will be addressed in the interview.
TLC has pulled the Duggar family’s reality show, “19 Kids and Counting,” from its schedule, but has not announced whether it will be cancelled or return.
