SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Explosive revelations have emerged from recently unveiled documents, shedding light on a bizarre chapter in the life of Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), and his alleged connections to a psychic who claimed to communicate with the long-deceased prophet Nephi.
These documents, obtained by Vice News through a public records request, have sparked a controversy that has led to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints distancing itself from Ballard and his nonprofit organization.
The saga began with the removal of articles promoting Tim Ballard and O.U.R. from the Church's official platforms.
This move coincided with a statement released by the Church, condemning Ballard for "morally unacceptable" behavior and citing betrayal.
The statement was a response to the shocking documents that have now come to light.
Tim Ballard received 'psychic readings' and communication from prophet Nephi
According to the documents, Ballard is said to have communicated with a psychic medium named Janet Russon, who claimed to speak to the prophet Nephi, a figure from the Book of Mormon who has been dead for thousands of years.
These communications allegedly served as a source of "intel" for O.U.R.'s paramilitary missions aimed at rescuing children from human trafficking.
The ties between Tim Ballard and the revered Elder Ballard, an Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles within the Church, were described as numerous and occasionally bizarre in the documents.
Some allegations even suggest that Tim Ballard and an associate represented Elder Ballard as a partner in a for-profit business called Slave Stealers.
This venture was pitched as a means to exert control over O.U.R. and other non-profits, potentially allowing Tim Ballard to allegedly capitalize on the notoriety gained from his often exaggerated exploits.
The documents further reveal that Tim Ballard claimed that Elder Ballard was closely involved in at least one overseas mission based on information obtained from the psychic medium.
Ballard asserted that the Mormon elder had blessed him and his wife Katherine before the mission and received real-time updates from the field.
Tim Ballard's psychic medium possessed around '10,000 pages' of readings
Troy Rawlings, a prosecutor in Davis County, Utah, who oversaw the now-closed investigation into O.U.R., stated in an email to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes that he possessed "somewhere around 10,000 pages" of psychic readings conducted by Janet Russon.
These readings included purported communications with the long-deceased prophet Nephi.
Rawlings expressed concerns that donors to O.U.R. would be dismayed to discover that the organization's operational intelligence allegedly relied on a psychic and the words of a dead Mormon prophet.
The nexus between Russon, Tim Ballard, and the Church itself was a point of interest for criminal investigators.
One document describes an interview between an FBI special agent, a Davis County investigator, and a former O.U.R. development director, who remains anonymous.
This individual stated that Tim Ballard often claimed to have informed Elder Ballard about various matters, blurring the lines between their relationships.
Tim Ballard and Liberty 89
Tim Ballard was reported to have asserted that Elder Ballard was involved in a business venture called Liberty 89, a project linked to restoring America to a covenant with God.
According to the former development director, Tim Ballard had been vocal about Elder Russell Ballard's involvement in this initiative.
"Through the whole process and all these miracles, I have reported back to Elder Ballard at least every month, sometimes more,” he said, per an investigator’s transcript of a recording of one meeting.
“And on the way to the airport last night, I stopped by his house, and Katherine and I spent about an hour with him. And he gave me a very powerful blessing," he added.
These revelations have sent shockwaves through both the Church and the anti-trafficking community, as they raised questions about the credibility of O.U.R.'s missions, its founder's associations, and the role of a psychic in guiding paramilitary operations.
Many are left to grapple with the notion that a nonprofit organization's actions may have been influenced by a seer claiming to communicate with a long-deceased prophet.
