SOUND OF FREEDOM’s Tim Ballard Talks Battle of Child Sex Trafficking
By Movieguide® Contributor
Tim Ballard joined PragerU to share his story of how he started the fight to end sex trafficking. Ballard’s story is the subject of the new movie, SOUND OF FREEDOM.
Ballard opened up and shared that he always thought he would end up being a cop because of a traumatic event that happened to him and his brother.
Ballard and his brother were in Montrose, Colorado when a van suddenly pulled up beside them and two guys with gloves on got out of the van and ran towards the boys. Immediately Ballard thought it was a kidnapping attempt. Ballard and his brother then ran into a library and hide from the two men.
It was from that time on Ballard saw the world “as a place that could be very dangerous for children.”
“It was in those original moments that I actually thank God for. I believe they were purposeful and kind of ignited in a mission from eight years old on,” Ballard stated.
Ballard then started his job as a CIA agent, however six months later he was ripped away from that job to start the fight against child sex crimes.
“The very first case I worked was a bunch of CDs and things that we just seized, and I had to look through it. I’m watching these videos and it was three little boys that were like three, five and eight. The same age as my kids and they look like my kids, they’re all blonde with blue eyes. I remember watching this video and I could not believe what I was watching. I thought child exploitation material was something different,” Ballard said.
“I thought it was like 16-year old’s that couldn’t almost look like adults, that’s what I thought it was because a decent mind can’t wrap its head around the fact that prepubescent children could be raped,” he continued. “I remember falling to my knees like thinking I want to pray to God or something. I had a total freak out. I drove to my kid’s school, I lied to the administrators and said they had dentist appointments. I just needed them out and I’m just hugging my children crying. It broke my heart.”
Now, Ballard runs one of the largest ant-trafficking organizations in the world called, Operation Underground Railroad.
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