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SALT LAKE CITY — Timothy Ballard has been busting child traffickers and rescuing children for years, first as a U.S. agent and now as the founder of a non-profit.
But a sting in Haiti affected him in a way he never expected.
After learning about Operation Underground Railroad and its efforts to fight child trafficking, I wanted to get involved. I organized a fundraiser for them and they later invited me along for a rare opportunity: a trip to Haiti, where I got a firsthand look at the good they are doing.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Eighty percent of its 10 million people live in poverty.
"Murders happen all the time, kidnappings happen all the time. The police can't even respond," Ballard said.
I traveled to this Caribbean nation with Ballard and his jump team at Operation Underground Railroad and got a firsthand look at their efforts to fight child slavery.
"It's one of the largest trafficking areas on earth," he said.
In a country where orphanages are filled to the max, hundreds of thousands of kids are forced into slave labor.
"It's like, 'Oh my gosh, we are in South Carolina in 1840,'" he said.
Ballard's team first came to Haiti in February 2014 trying to help Guesno Mardy find his son.
Gardy Mardy, an American born in St. George, Utah, was kidnapped outside an LDS church building in Haiti just a few weeks before the 2010 earthquake. The 2-and-a-half-year-old was held for ransom. His parents paid everything they could, but the child was never returned.
"All of us are convinced in Haiti that he's still there, but where?" Guesno Mardy said.
A police tip led Ballard to an illegal orphanage run by Yvrose Pressoir.
This place was hellacious. You wouldn't let your dog live in this place.
–Timothy Ballard
"This place was hellacious. You wouldn't let your dog live in this place," he said.
They found 28 children malnourished, dehydrated, and living in filth, with babies lying in feces from several days before.
"It was sickening. All my guys talk about it. We wanted to cry. We wanted to throw up," he said. "When we walked in there, there was a guy walking around with a belt. The kids later told us, 'He beats us up,'" he said.
Gardy wasn't here, but Ballard says Pressoir quickly offered to sell him a child. Ballard says he felt drawn to a 3- and 4-year-old brother and sister. So, working with Haitian authorities, Ballard's team set up a sting.
They purchased the two kids for $15,000 apiece.
Just minutes after the cash was exchanged, police arrived on the scene.
They arrested Pressoir, who was sent to prison for selling children.
The 28 kids were rescued and relocated to reputable orphanages.
More than a year later, we visited those kids and found them looking healthier and happier. They told us they now have hope — hope that they'll one day be adopted.
Rescuing these children left an unexpected impact on this former U.S. agent.
"I've been involved in dozens of these type of rescue operations, but I never felt like I needed to take one of these kids home. But this Haiti operation was so different," Ballard said.
I never felt like I needed to take one of these kids home. But this Haiti operation was so different.
–Timothy Ballard
He and his wife Katherine Ballard have six children, but they hope their family will soon include two more. They are in the process of adopting the brother and sister who were purchased in the orphanage bust.
"I just felt so close to those kids, I don't know why," he said.
Ballard hopes more of these kids will find loving homes.
"I imagine there are so many families that if they knew that there were these precious little children that just want to be loved," he said. "People just need to see this so they can do something."
Guesno Mardy still walks the streets of Haiti hoping to find his son. It's been five-and-a-half years and Gardy would be 8 now. But he's not giving up, and neither is Ballard.
"I think we're close," he said. "We're closer than anyone's ever been."
Ballard now believes Gardy was trafficked to a labor camp, where children are used as slaves cutting sugar cane. His team is making preparations to bust up that camp and hopefully bring Gardy home.
There are only 18 U.S. adoption agencies licensed to do adoptions in Haiti. One of them is Wasatch International Adoptions right here in Utah.
