SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, who has long been a supporter of Tim Ballard and his efforts to fight human trafficking, says he was not aware of any sexual misconduct by Ballard until allegations of such actions were publicized.
Ballard was recently accused of sexual harassment by several women with whom he worked at Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). Those women filed a lawsuit Monday, detailing these allegations.
After these accusations became public, Reyes issued a statement Wednesday saying he had no knowledge about Ballard's alleged misconduct.
"Until the Vice article in September of 2023, the AG had never heard of any alleged sexual conduct as addressed in the [lawsuit]," the AG's office wrote in the statement, likely referring to Vice's report that said Ballard left OUR because of a sexual misconduct investigation. "[Reyes] only observed conduct that was positive, productive and legal in his interactions with OUR and Mr. Ballard"
The women are accusing Ballard of manipulating them into sexual acts that they did not want to participate in. They said this was part of the "Couples Ruse," which was a tactic reportedly used by Ballard on undercover operations to make human traffickers believe he and various female "operatives" for OUR were a husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend. The lawsuit alleges that he promised certain boundaries regarding physical contact but ended up "grooming" them, then manipulating them if they ever showed hesitation to participate in these acts.
"To be clear, [Reyes] was aware that on operations there were sometimes operators posing as couples and that arrangement, itself, was a deception or ruse, but he never had any direct or indirect knowledge of the sexual actions alleged in the Complaint," the statement from the AG's office read.
Reyes was mentioned in the lawsuit, but not as a defendant. The suit said Reyes promoted and "vouched" for Ballard and OUR's efforts — "providing credibility to Ballard and OUR that was not warranted."
Reyes' office said he "has no knowledge of how or if his name or title may have been used to add credibility to the misconduct alleged in the Complaint."
As far as the allegations themselves go, Reyes' office said it "will not speculate on matters and recommends letting the facts, claims and defenses be addressed through the judicial process and cases filed."
Shortly after the AG's statement, Tim Ballard and his wife Katherine issued a statement through The Spear Fund, saying only two of the five women who are suing him went on OUR operations. The other three "did not make it through the training and certification process," the statement said.
One of the women who participated in operations "repeatedly put herself in harm’s way," the Ballards said. The statement then appeared to directly address this woman:
"You have assured us privately that you would bravely do it again, and aren’t sure how we could have changed things in the terror of the moment. You told us that OUR, its leadership and teams were learning as they went, but that you felt that the cause was too important and urgent."
