Woman Sentenced in '19 Kids and Counting' Extortion Case

Teresa Hunt 49, left of Bettendorf, Iowa leaves U.S. District Court in Davenport, Iowa after pleading guilty Wednesday July 25, 2012 to charges she tried to extort $10,000 from the Discovery Channel with photographs of a member of the Duggar family from the reality show "19 Kids and Counting." (Brian Wellner/QUAD-CITY TIMES)

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By Liz Blood

Story Created: Dec 6, 2012 at 6:37 PM CDT

Story Updated: Dec 6, 2012 at 6:42 PM CDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been sentenced to home confinement for threatening to release damaging photographs of a cast member of the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting."

The Quad-City Times reports Teresa Hunt of Bettendorf was sentenced Thursday to one year of supervised release. That includes four months of home confinement and a mental health evaluation.

Hunt pleaded guilty in July to one count of extortion. Prosecutors say Hunt told TLC's parent company she had damaging photographs of a cast member that would reveal an inappropriate relationship with a Missouri singer. She told Discovery Communications she would release the photos if the company didn't pay her $10,000.

The cast member and singer have denied any romantic relationship. They have called the plot laughable.