Ballard quietly parted ways with OUR in 2023 after being investigated for sexual misconduct allegations made by employees. Lynch, who was not an employee, has a hazy memory of the time, but she does recall telling a friend who was an OUR employee that something inappropriate had happened. Lynch said the friend told a friend, who then notified human resources. (Lynch’s lawyer, Suzette Rasmussen, confirmed the events.)
Boris became Ballard’s executive assistant in early 2023. She was isolated from other OUR employees, she says. When the investigation began, she knew very little about it, was told its scope was limited to one woman’s report, and would be wrapped up quickly. It wasn’t until she left OUR and watched attorney Suzette Rasmussen argue on television a lawsuit against Ballard by anonymous women she had represented in Utah civil court that she really began to process her experience.
“I was still trying to make sense of everything I’d been through while working for him,” she says. “When I met Suzette, I felt like she was the safest place I could go to protect myself.”
It wasn’t until she removed herself from Ballard’s circle, blocked his number and filed her lawsuit that she began to understand how traumatized she had been. “I would be listening to a police officer on a podcast or on the news and he would say, ‘You can’t…'” she pauses, then begins to cry. “By saving victims, you can’t create victims. That’s what really got me going.”
The legal process is ongoing and, in addition to the lawsuit and criminal investigation, Mr. Borris and Ms. Lynch have applied for a permanent protective order against Mr. Ballard and are currently awaiting a date for an evidentiary hearing.
They are also still processing their experiences with OUR, as well as Ballard, and neither now believes OUR was a legitimate child rescue effort.
“Where’s the evidence?” Boris asks. “There is absolutely no evidence. And when you try to speak to anyone who still works there and believes it, they get as red-faced, upset and annoyed as Tim Ballard. Instead of answering your questions, they turn on you.”
WIRED provided a detailed list of questions to Tim Ballard’s spokesman, Chad Colton, to which Colton responded: “I started to answer these questions one by one, but then thought it would be a waste of time, so I reconsidered. … There is absolutely nothing new in the work Tim has been doing publicly for years with Republicans who want to actually do something about the problem of human trafficking, not deny it. The cases against him are starting to fall apart, with one already dismissed and another facing an evidentiary hearing over serious allegations of illegal and unethical conduct by the plaintiffs and their attorneys.”
OUR did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
“I hope he goes to prison,” Lynch said. “Honestly, this is a really hard thing to say and to understand that this could happen. You have to understand that it’s not my fault that he went to prison. It’s not our fault. It’s about him and what he did.”
She also says she just wants the truth to be known.
“Nobody should have to go through this and he doesn’t deserve to be on the campaign trail or speaking engagements,” she said. “He shouldn’t have this happening right now.”
