Former Miss Utah and Other Women Accuse Prominent Human Trafficking Advocate of Harassment and Abuse: Reports

Mar. 15, 2025

Tim Ballard (left), Amy Morgan Davis.Photo:Alan Espinosa/Getty, AP Photos/Mary Godleski

Alan Espinosa/Getty, AP Photos/Mary Godleski

Ballard built the anti-child sex trafficking nonprofitOperation Underground Railroadbefore stepping away amid initial accusations of wrongdoing following the release of the $184 million indie film.

Several of Ballard’s alleged victims spoke withThe New York Timesabout their lawsuits and allegations, including former Miss Utah Amy Morgan Davis.

Representatives for Miss Utah declined to comment on the matter to PEOPLE.

Ballard declined to comment to theTimes, while lawyer Mark Eisenhut said that his client did not harass or physically assault any of the women he worked with or have any inappropriate contact with sex workers.

At the time the alleged assault took place, Davis worked as Ballard’s makeup artist and she claims he manipulated her desire to help him rescue children — a tactic he reportedly used to assault his victims after recruiting them to pose as his romantic partners to help rescue the children.

Davis alleged in the lawsuit that Ballard repeatedly told her to prove that the two of them had a “connection” and then made sexual advances at her, including touching her body with his hands, according to the publication.

“It’s hard to wrap your head around that because you really, in your mind, want him to be the hero,” she told theTimes.

Like Davis, many of the women accused Ballard in lawsuits and interviews of talking graphically about sexual scenarios they might encounter after achieving a woman’s interest in helping, per theTimes.

The publication noted that when the women felt uncomfortable keeping up with the fake romance in his office, hotel room or car, he allegedly argued that sex traffickers could be monitoring their every move.

Another woman, Celeste Borys has sued Ballard and the Operation Underground Railroad on claims of battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress amid other claims, theTimesreported.

Borys had been working at the organization when he told her that he wanted to expand her role, theTimesreported. He allegedly invited her to an introductory mission in Ecuador in 2022 and surprised her with a couple’s massage in a hotel room.

She told theTimesthat Ballard got naked and laid on the bed after two girls, who Borys said looked underage, entered the room. Instead of helping the girls, Ballard began talking about masturbation, she said in her lawsuit.

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After Borys escaped to the bathroom, Ballard eventually came in and told her that he had received useful information from the girls and said, “We are going to save so many children,” per theTimes.

“They are baseless inventions designed to destroy me and the movement we have built to end the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable children," Ballard said.

While some of the allegations against Ballard have been dismissed, six sexual assault claims are reportedly under litigation, per theTimes.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said it was aware of “pending criminal investigations into Tim Ballard.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Operation Underground Railroad and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

source: people.com