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Operation Underground Railroad

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BabyNades760 (talk | contribs) at 12:35, 12 July 2021 (Updated new investigative series that expands on the criminal investigation into operation underground railroad and confirmation that three interviews describe how events unfolded and the year long investigation by three different news organizations that resulted in the criminal investigation into OUR and Tim Ballard). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Operation Underground Railroad
Named afterUnderground Railroad
FoundedOctober 2013
FounderTimothy Ballard
Founded atCedar City, Utah
TypeNon-governmental organization, non-profit organization
FocusHumanitarian
HeadquartersAnaheim, California
Area served
Global
MethodRescue
Key people
Tim Ballard
Websiteourrescue.org

Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is a United States-based nonprofit organization whose stated goal is to assist government agencies in the rescue of human trafficking and sex trafficking victims, with a special focus on children, with the wider goal of eliminate sex trafficking world-wide.[1] The group was founded in 2013 in Cedar City, Utah by Tim Ballard, a former officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In 2020, Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad came under fire as the subjects of several investigative series that detailed Ballard's relationships with corrupt foreign government officials, his history of fabricating rescues and statistics, several reports detailing accusations by law enforcement agencies both foreign and domestic accusing Ballard of fabricating and exaggerating their relationship(s) including muliple accusations of creating and fostering an environment of child sex trafficking and evidence detailing O.U.R. was an ongoing criminal enterprise since its founding by Tim Ballard, who relied an . journalists Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman with Vice News[2][3][4], and DERAILED: Operation Underground Railroad[5], an investigative series by award winning journalist Lynn Packer and Damion Moore with American Crime Journal[6].

As of April 2020, O.U.R. reports 3000 victims rescued, and 182 traffickers arrested.[1] However, these figures are disputed,[7] and the group has been further criticized for it practices[8] and a lack of transparency.[7]

History

Prior to founding O.U.R., Tim Ballard served 12 years as a U.S. Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security, on the Internet Crimes against Children Task Force and the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. According to Ballard, he was frustrated with the lack of strategies employed to rescue kidnapped and trafficked children in underdeveloped nations, and the inability to prosecute offenders in non-U.S. related cases.[9][10] Subsequently, he left the government in October 2013 to found Operation Underground Railroad.[9][10][11] The organization was founded in Cedar City, Utah, but is currently headquartered in Anaheim, California.

To help raise awareness and support, film producer Gerald R. Molen approached Ballard to document preparation and activity relating to a few covert operations for a feature film. The documentary, titled The Abolitionists, was released in early 2016.[12]

Operations

According to the organization, O.U.R. works with supporting governments and organizations in one or more of the following activities: prevention, discovery, preparation, rescue, victim recovery programs, and fundraising efforts.[9][10][13] Its members are of former military and law enforcement officials and other support volunteers. Operations are segments of any coordinated effort, training and/or direct involvement to rescue trafficking victims. O.U.R. states it does not work independently, or without government participation and support.[14][15][12][10][16][9][11]

Criticism

A 2020 Vice News investigation found that the organization employed "a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading". For instance, O.U.R. claimed that it rescued a woman named "Liliana", who according to court testimony escaped by herself. The organization's spending also lacks transparency.[7] A 2021 follow-up article further criticized O.U.R.'s practices, which included using inexperienced donors and celebrities as part of its "jump team", a lack of meaningful surveillance or identification of targets, failing to validate whether the people they intended to rescue were in fact actual trafficking victims, and conflating consensual sex work with sex trafficking.[17]

Ballard and supporters of O.U.R. have been criticized for promoting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory.[18][19][20]

Investigative Reports and Criminal Investigations

On August 27, 2020, Lynn Packer with American Crime Journal reported in a video breaking news that criminal complaints had been forwarded to the Davis County District Attorney at their office in Farmington, Utah.[21] Packer, an award winning investigative journalist and veteran Utah reporter was later interviewed by American psychologist John Dehlin on his Mormon Stories Podcast. Dehlin, who like Packer is an excommunicated member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) asked why would such a major "development for the state of Utah and the LDS Church" was not released or "being pursued" by mainstream Utah press? Packer asserted that Utah media and LDS Church was complicit in legitimizing Operation Underground Railroad with little to no oversight and fact-checking. Packer revealed that he had spent the last five years investigating Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad and anyone who spends more than five minutes looking into the organization could find fraud and corruption.[22]

In October 2020, the Attorney's Office of Davis County, Utah stated that O.U.R. and Tim Ballard were under criminal investigation regarding complaints that O.U.R. had conducted illegal fundraising efforts by fabricating rescues that never took place and laundering donor money into his for profit businesses. [23][24][25] Investigative journalists Anna Merlan and Tim Marhcmann for Vice News confirmed reports by investigative journalist Lynn Packer and Damion Moore of American Crime Journal of a clandestine meeting held in August, 2019, where Tim Ballard summoned officers and managers of his non-profit and for profit businesses, including several from Operation Underground Railroad.[26] At the meeting he presented, in detail a criminal conspiracy to launder donor money from non-profits which called "sizzle" into his for profit businesses, illustrating his plan in detail on a dry erase board. According to multiple sources and by their own admission, after the meeting Operation Underground Railroad's Operations Team Leader Dave Lopez and their top donor Paul Hutchinson were so disturbed and disgusted by Tim Ballard's criminal plans, they severed all ties with Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad. Several photos of the meeting and of the whiteboard were turned over to the Davis County District Attorney and the Federal Bureau of Investigation due to concerns of wire fraud.[27][28]

References

  1. ^ a b "WHAT'S IN A NUMBER? #Rescue 500". Operation Underground Railroad. 2016-05-11. Archived from the original on 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  2. ^ https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a3qw/a-famed-anti-sex-trafficking-group-has-a-problem-with-the-truth
  3. ^ https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxev5/inside-a-massive-anti-trafficking-charitys-blundering-overseas-missions
  4. ^ https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8j3v/operation-underground-railroad-criminal-investigation-human-trafficking-tim-ballard-jim-caviezel-qanon
  5. ^ Derailed: Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.)
  6. ^ American Crime Journal
  7. ^ a b c Merlan, Anna (10 December 2020). "A Famed Anti-Sex Trafficking Group Has a Problem With the Truth". www.vice.com. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  8. ^ Grant, Melissa Gira (2020-08-19). "QAnon Is Using the Anti-Trafficking Movement's Conspiracy Playbook". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  9. ^ a b c d RICHARD BYRNE REILLY (2014-04-26). "Tech startup Operation Underground Railroad is saving kids from human traffickers" (News). VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  10. ^ a b c d "Inside The Fight Against Child Sex Trafficking". 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  11. ^ a b "The New Abolitionists". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  12. ^ a b "The Abolitionists Movie - A Mission to End Child Trafficking". The Abolitionists. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  13. ^ Herald, Karissa Neely Daily. "Utah abolitionists say it's time to rescue victims of sex trafficking". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  14. ^ "Understanding Human Trafficking through the Lens of Civil Society: Awareness, Advocacy and Action". Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  15. ^ "Rescuing Children From Colombia's Sex Trafficking Trade". ABC News. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  16. ^ "Rescuing Children from Sex Slavery: One Mormon's Inspired Mission". LDS Living. 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  17. ^ "Inside a Massive Anti-Trafficking Charity's Blundering Overseas Missions". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  18. ^ Roose, Kevin (2020-08-12). "QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  19. ^ "Donald Trump Is Gone, But QAnon's Sex Trafficking Conspiracies Are Here To Stay". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  20. ^ "WWE Referee, Wrestler-Turned-Mayor Fundraise For QAnon-Adjacent Charity". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  21. ^ Tim Ballard Utah’s Flim-Flam Man
  22. ^ Mormon Stories #1364: Lynn Packer Part 6- Investigating Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad
  23. ^ "Anti-human trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under criminal investigation by Utah prosecutor"
  24. ^ Anti-human-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under investigation
  25. ^ BREAKING NEWS: Anti-human trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under criminal investigation by Davis County Attorney
  26. ^ Merlan, Anna and Marchman, Tim (2021-06-07) www.vice.com "Operation Underground Railroad’s Carefully Crafted Public Image Is Falling Apart"
  27. ^ Packer, Lynn "Tim Ballard’s Secret “Whiteboard Meeting” in August 2019" www.americancrimejournal.com
  28. ^ "Anti-human trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad under criminal investigation by Utah prosecutor"
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