Tim Ballard is suing women who accuse him of sexual assault

Timothy Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad and the subject of the film Sound of freedomhas filed lawsuits against seven women accusing him of sexual assault: Celeste Borys, Sashaleigha Hightower, Mary Hall, Kira Lynch, Krista Kacey, Bree Righter and Amy Morgan Davis. Specific allegations against Ballard include faking sex with Borys in the shower, grinding, touching, kissing and licking. “It was obvious he had an erection,” Mary Hall once said.

Ballard founded OUR, a nonprofit organization, in 2013 after working for the Department of Homeland Security for 11 years and for a brief stint at the CIA in 2001. OUR’s mission is to end sex trafficking. According to its website, the organization has led over 4,000 predator arrests and supported over 6,000 survivors and over 1,000 missions.

Last July was the box office hit sound of freedom, based on an operation led by Tim in 2014, was released by Angel Studios and created a lot of awareness for the cause – both positive and most recently extremely negative.

OUR, like many issues in America today, has become a partisan issue. Ballard is (was?) a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is openly conservative, has nine children and has entered politics. “Well-known figures in Utah began encouraging Mr. Ballard to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney,” the lawsuit says. You’ll likely see conservatives wearing the OUR brand, but Cockburn has yet to meet a liberal in the classic Underground Railroad T-shirt. Because of his work with trafficked children, some partisans are choosing to link support for OUR to QAnon, which, according to Britannica, is a conspiracy theory that claims former President Donald Trump was “leading a secret war against a cabal of satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles.” has led”.

About that time Sound of freedom was released, things got dark. Ballard resigned as CEO of OUR on June 22, 2023, reportedly due to allegations of sexual misconduct, which Ballard denied. An actual lawsuit was filed as recently as Oct. 9, in which five women said they were forced into sexual acts after joining Ballard in his sting operations. Allegedly, Ballard exploited this “couple trick” where he hired certain women to pretend to have a romantic relationship with him in order to trick sex traffickers before arresting them.

Amy Morgan Davis, who initially sued Ballard in 2023 using the pseudonym “MK” to hide her identity, released a victim impact statement and text messages between her and Ballard. said Davis after she had an initial “interview” (where she had to prove she could “flip”). [him] Ballard wrote to her that she had to agree to the following scenarios: showering together, faking an orgasm, touching her under her swimsuit in a hot tub, and intentionally turning him on.

“He began drinking regularly on OPS and used it to justify oral sex, nudity and sharing the bed with each other,” says the victim’s statement from Krista Kacey, “creating situations so precarious that he could argue vehemently “These actions were necessary to accomplish the mission and obtain information that would make all the difference and save countless lives.” There are pages and pages of claims like these from all seven women. ​​Bree Righter claims that Ballard has “obvious mental health issues,” that OUR “defrauded donors of millions of dollars,” and that “they don’t save children.”

Ballard continues to deny the allegations. “After waiting nearly a full year for one of the defendants to retract his false allegations against Mr. Ballard and come forward with the truth, Mr. Ballard reluctantly brings this lawsuit,” citing text messages and a video from, among other pieces of evidence Krista Kacey, claiming nothing inappropriate happened.

Ballard concludes that the timing of these allegations is due to “wealthy and powerful people who are connected to this dark and evil underworld and do not want to be exposed.” He justifies his actions with the couple’s cunning. “You cannot convince a human trafficker that the trafficker is genuine without appearing sexually perverted,” the lawsuit says. “One way to do this, unfortunately, is the traditional way: there are unethical agents who regularly engage in sexual relationships with traffickers, prostitutes and victims of human trafficking, using the excuse that they are doing what needs to be done to get in the ring to penetrate. Mr. Ballard has never been willing to engage in sexual relationships with anyone in the world of human trafficking, whether participants or victims.”