2024-09-28 00:32:21
The former agent was dismissed from an organization dedicated to combating child trafficking for “inappropriate sexual conduct.”
The successful movie Sound of Freedomwhich addresses the fight against child trafficking and is based on real events, has been marred by serious sexual abuse allegations against Tim Ballard, the former police officer who inspired the story.
He former FBI agent was part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) and became known for his work in the organization Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), dedicated to combating child trafficking. However, his legacy has been questioned due to a class action lawsuit filed by five women who accuse him of sexual assault and abuse.
A series of accusations that have led Ballard to face several lawsuits, even causing an internal investigation to be launched at OUR for “inappropriate sexual conduct” which triggered his departure on June 22, 2023.
“OUR is dedicated to combating sexual abuse and does not tolerate sexual harassment or discrimination by any of its members”they maintained from the organization.
The serious accusations of sexual abuse against Tim Ballard
The case was presented by Vice and journalist Lynn Packer, who reported on the Tim Ballard’s alleged abuses against several women.
These accusations were corroborated by sources with “direct knowledge of the organization” to Vice News, who assured that the former agent He invited women to pose as his wife on rescue missions outside their country.
Once there, it is alleged that he convinced them to sleep in the same bed and share bathrooms together, under the justification that it was necessary to deceive human traffickers.
Among the complaints, it is mentioned that one of the women received a photograph of Ballard in her underwear and with fake tattoos, while another would have asked him: “How far was she willing to go to save the children?”.
This, considering that these women had to pose as intimate partners, but not engage in any sexual behavior, a rule that the lawsuit alleges Ballard regularly violated.
For his part, in response to the accusations, Tim Ballard addressed the public at an event in Boston, affirming his innocence: “It’s not true, nothing you hear is true.”