Notes from a criminal investigation obtained by The Tribune show former Operation Underground Railroad employees had concerns that the group led donors to believe their money was financing child-rescue operations, even though they had been told that the group had almost entirely stopped doing those operations years earlier. Those interviewed also said that OUR founder Tim Ballard had used the name of LDS apostle M. Russell Ballard to add gravitas to his endeavors.
Documents from criminal investigation also reveal former employees believed Tim Ballard and his organization were misleading donors.
The records also shed some light on how OUR’s founder, Tim Ballard, allegedly exploited the name of M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to add gravitas to his endeavors. David Lopez, a former Navy SEAL involved in training operatives and leading OUR operations, told investigators he was offered a $25,000 monthly salary to join Ballard’s Slave Stealers. Lopez said the head of the organization told him that Ballard was making $900,000 annually from the organization.
“Once it became clear Tim Ballard had betrayed their friendship, through the unauthorized use of President Ballard’s name for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and [for] activity regarded as morally unacceptable,” the church said in a statement, “President Ballard withdrew his association.” In the early days, OUR would deploy operatives to various parts of the globe in an attempt to snare child sex traffickers and dismantle their operations.
OUR donors might have been surprised to learn that was the case. In a 2021 interview with investigators, Stockwell recounts how, now OUR’s president and chief operating officer, began telling her “we both know that we don’t rescue here anymore. We both know that we hardly rescue abroad anymore.”
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