‘19 Kids And Counting’ Josh Duggar Sex Scandal Update: Why State Trooper Allegedly Failed To Follow Through With Charges

“19 Kids and Counting” star Josh Duggar might have gotten away with a sex crime if reports by In Touch Weekly and Radar Online are true. Both claim the reason why Duggar’s scandal was never investigated was because the state trooper who led the case was embroiled in a sex scandal of his own.

Joseph Hutchens, a retired Arkansas state trooper, pleaded guilty to eight counts of possessing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child in 2007, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette wrote. He is the same man who spoke with Duggar after his father, Jim Bob, called authorities when he found out his son snuck into a young girl's room, In Touch Weekly and Radar Online reported.

Since Hutchens was involved in his own scandal, he allegedly did not follow up on the Duggar case from 2005. By the time state police contacted the Child Abuse Hotline years later, the case reached the statute of limitations and there was nothing authorities could do about Duggar. The connection between Hutchens and the Duggars has not been verified, and neither Josh nor Jim Bob has publicly addressed the sex scandal accusations.

Though the allegations against Duggar have not been confirmed by authorities and it’s just tabloid fodder (for now), one thing is certain: Hutchens is a habitual sex offender. After he was released for his first crime, he was sentenced to 56 years in prison in 2012 after he was caught with child porn. The former state trooper pleaded no contest to 10 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette wrote.

Josh Duggar, a father of three, ignored the story Wednesday. Instead, he tweeted a picture of his large family.

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