'Sound of Freedom' Producer Felt the Naked Breasts of Apparently Underage Trafficking Victim

[Nevilledog]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3mq5w/sound-of-freedom-producer-underage-trafficking-victim

Paul Hutchinson—an executive producer of Sound of Freedom, the film focused on the heavily fictionalized exploits of anti-trafficking activist Tim Ballard—touched the naked breasts of an apparently underage trafficking victim during a 2016 undercover operation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Footage of the incident and its aftermath was captured by videographers working with Operation Underground Railroad, or OUR, the private anti-trafficking group Ballard founded. An investigator with the Davis County Attorney’s Office obtained the footage and wrote detailed descriptions of it as part of a criminal investigation into Ballard and OUR carried out with the FBI. That investigation was closed this year without any charges being brought. The descriptions were included among documents obtained by VICE News through a public-records request, and make clear that the trafficking victim appeared to be—and was believed at the time by Hutchinson and OUR operatives to be—about 16 years old. They also assert that OUR believed the footage had been destroyed.

A description of one of the videos, written by an investigator, shows Hutchinson expressing concerns over whether he could be prosecuted by Mexican authorities over the incident. He was speaking to Matt Osborne, an OUR operative, who dismissed his worries while making clear he didn’t think the video should be shown to the U.S. government. Osborne is currently the president and chief operating officer of OUR, as he has been since Ballard resigned from the organization earlier this year following an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

Hutchinson, 52, is an anti-trafficking activist, philanthropist, and entrepreneur with lines in, among other things, ballistic protection technology and private vaults who’s long been associated with the Utah anti-trafficking movement. According to his LinkedIn, he was the first investor in Sound of Freedom. Currently affiliated with the Child Liberation Foundation, he was a key fundraiser and operative for OUR before splitting with Ballard several years ago over, as he put it in an email to VICE News, “similar reasons as those you are bringing to light in your stories.” Provided with a detailed description of what was in the investigative files, he did not deny that the videos showed him doing what the investigator’s description said they did, or dispute that he had felt the trafficking victim’s naked breasts. He did dispute that she was a minor, asserting that he had a sworn affidavit from Mexican federal police saying that she was over 18. He did not respond to multiple requests, sent over a period of weeks, to provide a copy of this document.

*snip*

[MagickMuffin]

1. The underage sexual predator

What a great way to find victims of sexual trafficking by pretending to care about sex trafficking. Like shooting apples in a barrel.

Vulnerable underage children being manipulated by those who will exploit them.


I just hope justice is waiting just around the bend, they won’t see it coming. BAMO

[LizBeth]

3. for real just sick fuggers. i heard somewhere he was talking about running for office or something

and the sales of the movie has something that has cheap seats pay forward where you buy cheap and then someone else pays for more to see, giving it the sales. reminding me a lot of passion of christ movie rw Christians just loved

[sheshe2]

9. Mitt Romney's Senate seat.

[irisblue]

6. # NotADragQueen

[LizBeth]

2. so it is ok to further sexually abuse a woman in trafficking cause you think she is over 18

oh wait, new was underage and still abused in the name of helping her, they hypocrites

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Sick

What a POS.

[UTUSN]

5. K&R

[Alexander Of Assyria]

7. Trial by media is usually not justice.

[LizBeth]

11. he has owned it and there is video. what would you like to ponder, whether he was molesting

an 18 yr old victim of trafficking or a 16 yr old victim of trafficking

[Alexander Of Assyria]

12. Whether a jury has rendered a verdict after a trial in a court of law...not social media.

[LizBeth]

14. so a video showing him assaulting a victim of sex trafficking and him admitting he sexually

assaulted a victim of sex trafficking and friends and co workers telling him he needed to hide the fact he sexually assaulted a victim of sex trafficking is simply not enough for you. you need people not there or participants to let you know if is guilty.

[Torchlight]

15. I don't think opinions on a message board hold the weight of law you assign them.

Courts can and do determine guilt, social media (like the one your posting on) simply gives voice to informal opinions and discussions which in and of themselves, hold no real legal consequence, balloons or no.

[Bluethroughu]

8. This is just insanely disgusting.

This is a underage sexual predator, looking to take advantage of the most vulnerable in their time of need.

Nobody cared to press charges? Just so scummy!

[eShirl]

10. what kind of evil shit does that

[Initech]

13. Is it any wonder why I truly hate these assholes?

Every accusation is a confession. Rules for you, but none for me.

[Torchlight]

16. There's a credible 'ick' factor going on

with just about everything I'm coming across in regards to this guy and the movie. If he really did fondle underage victims of sex-trafficking, the guy'll make Harvey Weinstein look like a saint in comparison.

[rdchili96]

17. Heh

Every Republican accusation is actually a confession.