Bobye Holt wants the world to know that she and her husband Jim did try to report Josh Duggar‘s molestations of his sisters and another young girl, decades before she testified about it in court this week. She also dropped a bombshell revelation that Josh was almost put on trial for the abuse of his sisters back in 2007!
Bobye, who is a former close friend of the Duggar Family, was a witness for the prosecution on Monday, speaking in great detail regarding how Josh and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle told them about Josh molesting his sisters (with one victim as young as five years old). In her testimony, Bobye stated that the Duggars informed her and Jim of this because Josh was courting her daughter at the time and they wanted to explain why Josh and the Holt daughter could no longer date.
Bobye received plenty of support for testifying about what Josh did; however, some criticized her for not taking what she knew to the authorities sooner. Bobye decided to spill the tea on Facebook in order to let nay-sayers know she has been trying to report Josh’s deeds for a long time.
“We’ve been screaming this from the mountain tops for 18+ years!” Bobye told one person, later adding, “You have no idea how many times it has been taken to authorities. When I say, ‘They didn’t do their job,’ I truly mean, they didn’t do their job!”
As The Ashley has previously reported, Josh confessed as a teen to molesting four of his sisters and another young girl. The molestations, which happened around 2002-2003 when Josh was a teen, were not reported officially to the police until 2006, when a police report was made and Josh and the victims and several others were interviewed. That police report was what was discovered by In Touch Weekly in 2015, though its existence had been a rumor on Duggar social media boards for years.
(In the same Facebook exchanged, Bobye confirmed she was not “Alice”— a person who wrote a now-well-known post about the molestations on a Duggar-themed message board, years before the police report went public.)
Though Josh’s actions were not recorded by police after they occurred, Josh received a “very stern talking to” in 2004 by Jim Bob’s pal, Joseph Hutchens, who was a state trooper at the time. However, the girls’ molestations were not investigated or officially reported. (Joseph Hutchens is now in prison for child p0rnography, by the way.)
The molestation scandal and the police report were exposed in 2015 by In Touch Weekly. After that, Josh, his parents, wife Anna and two of his victims– his sisters Jessa Duggar Seewald and Jill Duggar Dillard— all spoke out regarding the molestations, but Josh was never charged.
On Facebook on Wednesday, Bobye informed her critics that, at one point, Josh was allegedly going to be charged for his crimes against his sisters and the other young girl. (The Ashley cannot confirm or deny what Bobye is saying here is true, just FYI.)
“Did you know, that [there] was going to be a trial for the abuse in 2007?” Bobye wrote. “Did you know my husband and our daughter was subpoenaed for that trial? Did you know the prosecution dropped it because my family was going to testify?”
Bobye then brought up the “stern talking to” Josh received from Joseph Hutchens.
“Remember the trooper [Josh] was taken to? This was 2004. He did NOTHING because [Jim Bob] lied to him and set it up,” Bobye wrote.
“We didn’t find this out until the end of 2006. Then [Josh] was taken to authorities AGAIN, the 3rd time! Then that’s when there was supposed to be a trial, but the prosecuting attorney dropped it because our family was subpoenaed to testify.” (Bobye did not elaborate further.)
Bobye agreed with a comment left by a person who stated that Jim Bob and Michelle “don’t quite understand that when they took the side of Josh all those times they were choosing a predator over his victims and their own daughters. They thought it was grace and mercy but maybe they were unwittingly playing a part victimizing these girls and not protecting their innocence.”
“I sadly feel you are right,” Bobye replied.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been screaming this from the mountain tops for 18+ years but no one would believe us,” she told another person, later adding, “By 2006 [Josh] had been turned over to authorities 3 times but NOTHING was done.”
“We were silenced and made to be ‘the bad guy’ for all these years. God help us!” Bobye told another person who commented on the situation.
The Holts and the Duggars go way back, with Jim Holt and Jim Bob meeting at the age of 11. In her testimony in court this week, Bobye described the Duggars as once being their “best friends” and stated that, at one time, Josh called her “Aunt Bobye.” Josh also helped Jim on several of his political campaigns over the years.
Josh Duggar is facing up to 40 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if he is convicted of both counts of receiving and possessing child sex abuse materials. Follow The Ashley’s live updates on the trial here!
(Photos: Instagram; TLC)
23 Responses
Just wow.
What a disgrace.
And the police officer who spoke to him is behind bars for the same crime!!!
This is what happens when you have too many children you can’t properly supervise.
“..im Bob and Michelle “don’t quite understand that when they took the side of Josh all those times they were choosing a predator over his victims and their own daughters.”
Oh bullsh*t!! They are part of a cult that devalues women. Their daughters don’t mean as much to them as their sons, so of course they are going to take his side. Those girls are just broodmares for the next generation of religious nutbags.
As for the police. Gee I am shocked the open minded Arkansas patriarchy didn’t do a better job. They all should be thrown in jail.
I went through a similar situation when my cousin (14) molested my niece (3). A couple of years later, an argument with my aunt about me not wanting my own daughters to be anywhere near her son came to a head and she yelled “what if it was your son?!? I can’t just abandon him!” And I looked her dead in her eyes and said “if my 14 year old son hurt my 3 year old niece, I’d be in prison for killing him myself. Your son is LUCKY it wasn’t my daughters.”
The Duggers continuing to choose their son over their daughters time and time again is sickening. And I sincerely hope that he had the restraint to not hurt his own children or nieces.
Arkansas child protective services needs to get flooded with letters, emails, whatever it takes.
??
I have been following this story veeeeeery closely, and I gotta say, for a fundie woman, I am taking a liking to Bobye. It says a lot that a pillar of the Arkansas fundie community, especially a female one, is being so vocal against the Duggars. We all know that their cult teaches that women are to basically be seen and not heard, so I really respect that she not only gave everything she could to the prosecution, but continues to chip away at this wall of deceit that Rim Job and Michelle have built. She actually seems to see the bigger picture here.
I look forward to a guilty verdict. I think the floodgates are open now, and there will be much more dirt on the Duggars seeping out in the near future.
After reading all of this… there’s no way he hasn’t already done something inappropriate with his own children. He’s had ample opportunity. It’s an absolutely disgrace.
Totally agree! And I’m sure Anna knows. ??
Well that explains why they don’t take any of this seriously and that shot eating grin in the mugshot. These people are sick.
I don’t know Bobye but I absolutely love her for speaking up. It seems like she did all she could for those girls but the duggars have too much pull in that community. I wish her nothing but the absolute best.
I feel like you speak my thoughts exactly. Go Bobye!! We’re all in agreement with you!
Is it crazy that I’ve become so invested in this, that if he isnt found guilty, I feel like I”m going to never trust the justice system again?
We all KNOW this guy is bad, we all KNOW he did this.
Please, let’s all cross our fingers that tomorrow we hear that this disgusting excuse for a man is found guilty and goes away for much longer than those tater tot casseroles have been sitting in the Duggar deep freeze!!!
???? Even their food is disgusting!
I don’t have much faith in the justice system already but it honestly does read like a slam dunk by the prosecution in recaps so I think we have to blame the jury for failure of reasoning if he walks. We usually want to avoid that because, even if a juror believes something, they have to rule based on the evidence presented and it sometimes isn’t there. The evidence in this case is pretty irrefutable. The defense’s IT “expert” was an embarrassment to women in our profession. I will fully blame the jurors if they return a Not Guilty.
Well it’s clear Bobye is confident in Josh’s guilt. Let’s hope the jury feels the same.