Feds Bust Woman in Duggar Extortion

Teresa Hunt had not-so-racy photos of a cousin, wanted '19 Kids and Counting' axed
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2012 3:00 PM CST
Feds Bust Woman in Duggar Extortion
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar of '19 Kids and Counting' speak at the Values Voter Summit on September 17, 2010 in Washington, DC.   (Getty Images)

For anyone who has ever wished TLC would ax the reality abomination known as 19 Kids and Counting, you have company, albeit slightly batty company. Seems feds have charged Iowa photog Teresa Hunt with trying to extort the parent company of TLC, which airs Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's show, reports the Des Moines Register. Hunt allegedly sought $10,000 or the cancelation of the show, lest she make public photos that show a Duggar cousin in a less-than-squeaky-clean light with—gasp!—a much older "musician."

According to the FBI affidavit, Hunt's letter read: “The (redacted) claim to be so Christian so they keep popping out babies to keep their ratings up. Meanwhile, (redacted) and (redacted) are doing the nasty behind closed doors." Meanwhile, Radar reports that Hunt shopped the photos to it, as well, but that it rejected them because they "were merely harmless snaps rather than incriminating, damning photos." Radar also adds that it didn't know Hunt was attempting to extort elsewhere. For her part, Duggar cousin Amy Duggar denies any hanky-panky with the unnamed musician: “It’s totally untrue. He is a longtime family friend who has always been supportive of my music career. He’s a good Christian and it’s upsetting that his generosity has been exploited like this.” (More Michelle Duggar stories.)

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