SALT LAKE CITY — A third lawsuit has been filed against Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
The plaintiff, Jordana Bree Righter from Virginia, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who served as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps.
Righter stated she was hired by OUR as an independent contractor and suffered a traumatic head injury while training at the OUR gym in Draper.
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, that has caused complete numbness of the left half of (her) face.”
“Ballard was present and refused to call an ambulance because he wanted no record of the event occurring at OUR’s training.”
Righter stated she had surgery to remove the bone fragments from her facial nerve and replaced her eye socket with a silicone and titanium implant to support her eye.
According to the lawsuit, she still has PTSD along with "double vision, swelling, large floaters, and discomfort in her eye that is irreparable.”
The lawsuit goes on to state that Righter witnessed OUR “trying to create a demand for underage girls” instead of saving them.
She shared photos from an “undercover mission” or “fishing trip” called “Operation Marcel” in the British Virgin Islands which “had no clear or discernible purpose.”
“It was Ballard who created the demand on the island for trafficked children,” the lawsuit states.
An OUR employee named Matthew Cooper was also named in the lawsuit.
Righter was training to be the "COUPLES RUSE” partner to Cooper.
The “COUPLES RUSE” is an alleged grooming technique created by Ballard to improve the “sexual chemistry” of operators while on missions to save children from human trafficking.
Righter states she was inappropriately and sexually touched in the British Virgin Islands and at a strip club in Salt Lake City while training for the mission.
According to the lawsuit, Righter expressed her concerns to Matt Osborne, the current president of OUR.
“Osborne acknowledged that everything Plaintiff said was true and said that their [OUR’s] role was to prevent Ballard from doing too much damage to himself or others.”
Righter also described an instance of Tim Ballard’s wife, Katherine Ballard, showing up to the British Virgin Islands unannounced to surprise her husband.
“Ballard ignored his COUPLES RUSE partner until Katherine left the island... At that point in time, Ballard began a weeklong experience of partying, dragging his team to strip clubs all across the island, trying to create a demand for underage girls so that a pimp somewhere could find him one.”
Tim Ballard is no longer affiliated with OUR. He “permanently separated” from the nonprofit at the conclusion of an internal affairs investigation.
This is a developing story. Stay with FOX 13 News for updates.
