Tim Ballard

Tim Ballard, whose efforts to stop sex trafficking inspired the movie “Sound of Freedom,” will be the keynote speaker at the Mahoning County Republican Party’s Oct. 3 banquet.

Ballard is considered a controversial figure by some for his claims and statements.

He recently “stepped away” for undisclosed reasons from Operation Underground Railroad, an anti-sex trafficking organization he founded 10 years ago.

Ballard has since been named senior adviser of rescue operations for the Spear Fund, which collaborates with and funds anti-trafficking organizations.

The county Republican Party started selling tickets for the Oct. 3 event at Mr. Anthony’s banquet facililty in Boardman a few days ago and already has sold 100, Chairman Tom McCabe said. Tickets are $125 per person with a VIP reception (including a banquet ticket and photo with Ballard) for $500.

The party plans to make 600 tickets available, McCabe said. Tickets are available on the party’s website, mahoninggop.com, or at party headquarters, 8381 Market St. in Boardman.

“Sound of Freedom,” about Ballard’s work, has been a major commercial success with box office revenue of about $175 million since its early July release.

“I saw the movie and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to get Tim Ballard?'” McCabe said. “So we booked him. It’s a big name. Child trafficking has been a large issue and important topic for our party. I think it’s going to be huge.”

Asked about Ballard being a controversial figure, McCabe said, “He’s controversial depending on who you talk to.”

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson said, “I’m not surprised they’re bringing one of the most controversial people of the moment to try to raise money. I’m not trying to discredit the work being done by folks fighting human trafficking, but I know (Ballard) is deeply rooted in controversy.”

After spending 12 years as a special agent for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, mostly investigating child trafficking cases, Ballard founded OUR to rescue trafficking children in other countries. OUR’s website states it “does not conduct or participate in investigations, operations or enforcement actions in the United States” though it offers resources to assist U.S. law enforcement officers.

Ballard said last month during a YouTube interview, viewed 5.8 million times, that he recently had raided a “baby factory” in West Africa “where they’ve kidnapped women as young as 13 years old and children and they impregnate them, they rape them and they make babies and they take these babies and sell them for their organs, sell them for sex, sell them for a Satanic ritual abuse. It does sound crazy. That’s why I film it, our operations, we film our operations so that we can show the world this is very real. It’s really happening.”

“Sound of Freedom” tells Ballard’s story of rescuing children with a focus on OUR breaking up a sex trafficking ring in Colombia.

On OUR’s website, it said the film is based on Ballard’s true story though “there may be some exaggerated or fabricated elements included for dramatic purposes.” The website said Ballard didn’t really kill anyone while rescuing a child as depicted in the film and that the film “took creative license” in showing children trafficked in shipping containers.

McCabe said it’s common for films to exaggerate true stories, such as “Argo,” the critically acclaimed 2012 film about a CIA operative who rescued six U.S. diplomats held hostage in Iran in 1979 and 1980.

Ballard has discussed child sex trafficking issues with politicians including then-President Donald Trump in January 2019 and testified twice in front of Congress. Ballard also served as a member of the White House Private-Public Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking.

The OUR website states the organization goes “to the darkest corners of the world to assist in rescuing children from slavery and ensuring ongoing aftercare, provide cutting-edge tools and resources to U.S. law enforcement throughout the United States while strengthening preventative efforts that benefit at-risk children worldwide.”

It states it’s been involved in more than 4,000 operations and involved in more than 6,500 arrests.

McCabe said getting Ballard to talk at the fundraiser is part of a concerted effort by the party in the past five years “to get current speakers. It fits in with current events.”

Among the speakers at Mahoning Republican events over the past few years have been Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary who was later elected Arkansas governor; Candace Owens, a conservative political commentator known for supporting Trump; and most recently in March, Tulsi Gabbard, a Fox News contributor who left the Democratic Party.