➤The First Amendment is first for a reason
➤Investigative Reporter, @FOX13
➤Edward R. Murrow Award winner
➤2x SPJ Best TV Reporter in Utah
➤iteam@fox13now.com
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Oct 25 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Tim Ballard lawsuit update: A lot of Utah strip clubs are being subpoenaed.
They're asking for records related to Tim Ballard, Matt Osborne, Mike Porenta, and Matt Cooper
Tim Ballard's attorney says all of the subpoeanas should be quashed because the records contain "highly sensitive and confidential information belonging not only to Mr. Ballard, but also to individuals and entities who have nothing to do with this case..."
Oct 22 • 32 tweets • 13 min read
BREAKING - Six women have filed a federal lawsuit against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
The lawsuit alleges they violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) (2) By my count, this is Lawsuit #8
Lawsuit #6 in which Tim Ballard is a defendant.
The plaintiffs are: Celeste Borys, Mary Hall, Sasha Hightower, Krista Kacey, Kira Lynch, and Bree Righter
The defendants are: Timothy (Tim) Ballard, Matthew (Matt) Cooper, Michael (Mike) Porenta, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), and MS Williams & Company
Jul 8 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
BREAKING — Sperm on alleged victim’s skirt “was a 100% match of (Tim) Ballard’s DNA” according to latest court filing.
Celeste Borys is one of the women accusing Tim Ballard of sexual assault. She used to be his executive assistant.
She and her attorneys say detectives told them about the 100% DNA match after the skirt was sent to the Utah Crime Lab, but detectives won’t release the paperwork because criminal investigation is ongoing.(2) Several months ago, Tim Ballard’s psychic, Janet Russon, released a YouTube video explaining it might be because he shared a suitcase with Celeste.
Her attorneys tell me they never shared a suitcase.
So far, Tim Ballard’s team has not commented.
Apr 26 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
NEW - The State Records Committee is "disgusted" after learning @UCSO spent five months withholding public records related to a criminal investigation into Tim Ballard.
At the time, @UCSO falsely stated it "does not maintain responsive documents."
I appealed, but UCSO stuck with that story until a few days prior to our hearing in April 2024. Then they released the records.
Feb 23 • 58 tweets • 28 min read
BREAKING - A fifth lawsuit has been filed against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
For the first time, Angel Studios and the Harmon Brothers are also being sued. That's the company behind Sound of Freedom.
Here comes another long thread. 2. The plaintiffs are Kely Johana Suarez Moya and Luz Miriam Moya Solano.
They are represented by the same attorneys who filed the previous four cases.
Other defendants include Tim Ballard's wife (Katherine Ballard) and Tim Ballard's psychic (Janet Russon).
Feb 22 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
THREAD 🧵- After an extremely graphic and emotional night of testimony, Utah is now moving forward with a bill that would criminalize “ritualistic” abuse of children.
@KenIvoryUT
(2) Rep. Ken Ivory (R-West Jordan) is sponsoring the bill.
"I had a survivor tell me that, as a child, she was told that they had planted a bomb inside of her and that if she told anyone? They could detonate the bomb."
Feb 20 • 33 tweets • 14 min read
Get ready. Here's another long thread as I catch up on court documents in the Tim Ballard/ Katherine Ballard/ OUR civil cases.
As always, I will post documents + my takeaways in this thread. Here's my previous thread.
I'm currently catching up on some reading related to the four civil lawsuits against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
I will post documents + my takeaways in this thread. 1. 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 #𝟏 (Plaintiffs: Sasha Hightower, Mary Hall, Kira Lynch, "MK," and "DS")
Motion to dismiss filed by THE SPEAR FUND, aka LIBERTY AND LIGHT - Tim Ballard's new nonprofit.
SPEAR says it wasn't founded until after the alleged sexual misconduct took place, therefore it cannot be held liable.
Jan 27 • 19 tweets • 8 min read
This article includes a link to 37 pages of explicit text messages. Attorneys say they were sent by Tim Ballard to one of his female accusers.
Sometimes the messages are sexual. Sometimes they philosophize about untraditional views of the @LDSChurch.
“I like to throw some fucks in there while talking about the gospel.”
"I can't believe I'm sending you this 😂🤦♀️"
"Gonna be fun 😍"
Jan 27 • 21 tweets • 10 min read
NEW THREAD 🧵 - Court documents filed by attorneys for Celeste Borys state Tim Ballard raped her, or attempted to rape her, in...
1 - California
2 - Ecuador
3 - Mexico
4 - Florida
5 - London
6 - Utah
7 - Dominican Republic
8 - Nashville
9 - Washington DC
10 - Ohio (2) Earlier this month, we showed how women have reported there are at least seven criminal investigations into Tim Ballard.
- Utah AG's Office
- San Diego PD
- LAX PD
- Campbell PD
- Lindon PD
- Orange County SO
- Utah County SO
UPDATE: Court documents list Katherine Ballard and Radd Berrett as new defendants in October 10th lawsuit filed by Celeste Borys and Mike Borys. (2) Amended lawsuit states the "horrible irony" of OUR is that it claims to lead the fight against sexual exploitation worldwide, yet the nonprofit enabled "a serial predator (Timothy Ballard) to operate with impunity... attempting to pit sexual assault victims against other(s)."
Nov 29, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝:
Last night I reread each of the victim statements filed in the original lawsuit against Tim Ballard and OUR, now that 4 of 6 plaintiffs have decided to publicly reveal their names and stories.
These are the key points, below.👇
Celeste Borys:
She was Tim Ballard's executive assistant. She accuses him of sexual assault, trafficking her to create demand for more victims rather than saving children.
She says some of the hotel rooms booked while they were "undercover" used her real name.
𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙿𝙷𝙸𝙲⬇️
Nov 27, 2023 • 44 tweets • 17 min read
BREAKING - New lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.
It states Sound of Freedom had a sequel in the works called Cry of Freedom.
And it was partially written by Reyes. (2) The plaintiff is Suzanne Whitehead.
"This cause of action arises out of Defendant Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes’ unconstitutional suppression of Plaintiff’s right of free speech."
Nov 21, 2023 • 31 tweets • 7 min read
BREAKING - Six plaintiffs filing suit against Operation Underground Railroad are speaking now at a press conference in Salt Lake City.
Five are revealing their names for the first time
- Celeste Borys
- Mike Borys
- Sasha Hightower
- Mary Hall
- Kira Lynch
- Bree Righter
Mike Borys says Tim Ballard and OUR twisted a noble cause to fulfill his fantasies.
"We are not pedophile enablers. We are not the deep state or the Godless left."
Nov 21, 2023 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
BREAKING 🧵 - A third lawsuit has been filed against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
The plaintiff is Jordana Bree Righter from Virginia. She's a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who served as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps. (2) She says she was hired by OUR as an independent contractor and suffered a traumatic head injury while training at the OUR gym.
According to the lawsuit, she was hit in the face, resulting in severe double vision and shattered pieces of bone adhering to her facial nerve.
Oct 11, 2023 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
Attorney Alan Mortensen says @UtahAG's Office should be criminally investigated, but @SeanReyesUT is not named as a defendant in this civil suit.
Attorney Mike Green says they do anticipate naming additional defendants, but he would not say who.
BREAKING: New court documents in this case raise additional "factual allegations" against @SeanReyesUT and his relationship with @OURRescue and @TimBallard.
As far as we know, he is still not named as a defendant.
I will be adding to this thread, below.
Sep 28, 2023 • 28 tweets • 11 min read
FULL DOCUMENTS - Tim Ballard lied to donors, according to former @OURRescue employees
We are uploading 75 pages of records, which makes up less than 0.01% of the full criminal case file.
Marked as "CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION – UNDER SEAL" by Davis County, released by @UtahAG. (2) The full documents can be found at this link.
BREAKING - @UCSO just arrested a suspect in ritualistic sex abuse case.
This is David Hamblin's previous mugshot. He's a former therapist who lost his license. He previously confessed to rape but had all charges dropped.
THREAD BELOW ⬇️
The arrest happened ~45 to 60 minutes ago.
Victims were the first to be notified.
Booking + probable cause documents have not yet been made public. Hamblin previously had 18 felony charges, see below.
Sep 14, 2022 • 18 tweets • 7 min read
This article by @BrandyZadrozny identifies Utah County Attorney David Leavitt @Leavitt_RJI as a victim of “baseless” accusations.
Yes, the article mentions me.
🧵 I’ll be posting a few of my thoughts in this thread below.
nbcnews.com/tech/internet/…
1 - David Leavitt is innocent until proven guilty. He is also one of the suspects in a still-active ritualistic child sex abuse case.
Nobody wrote an article about his involvement until he held a press conference announcing himself as a suspect.
May 31, 2022 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
BREAKING - Utah County Sheriff's Office seeks information on "ritualistic child sexual abuse" and child sex trafficking.
I've been investigating the case for months. I can confirm some subjects of the investigation are high-profile individuals.
One of the targets of the investigation was a therapist previously charged with a series of sex crimes against young female family members.
The Utah County Attorney's Office dropped charges, and the man was not convicted.
Police reports indicate they had a taped confession.