Corrections_Today_May_June_2020_Vol.82_No.3

Ballard spoke at length about one particular operation conducted in Haiti. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, numerous children were left orphaned, which made it easy for traffickers to move in and abduct children for sex trafficking, organ harvesting and other illegal activities. Bal- lard’s team was primarily searching for the son of an American priest who was living in Haiti at the time, eventually finding a compound disguised as an orphanage that held over 20 children. He was instructed by local police to turn this into a sting if he couldn’t find the priest’s son in the compound. Ballard showed the audience hidden camera footage of when he went into the compound pre- tending to be a buyer. There, Ballard spoke about how a young boy ran up and “picked [him].” Bal- lard and the boy were led through the compound, where Ballard could hear another child following him, but he couldn’t see who it was. Ballard eventu- ally caught sight of a girl behind him, who was “looking intensely” at him. He gave her a candy bar to assuage her and get her to leave him alone, but he soon realized who she was. Upon witnessing the girl break the candy bar and share it with the boy, he

realized the girl was the boy’s older sister and was following him to keep an eye on her brother. Ballard said that, for the first and only time in his career, he broke character, and whispered to the girl the truth. He ensured the siblings were taken offsite to a hotel, and as soon as he made the trans- action, his team was able to raid the compound and arrest the traffickers. They were able to rescue 28 children, but sadly, the priest’s son wasn’t there, and had already been sold. When he informed the boy’s father of his son’s absence, the man was upset, but seemed grateful when he learned about the children rescued. He told Ballard, “If my son wasn’t kidnapped, none of this would have happened. … If I have to give up my son so these 28 kids get rescued, that is a burden I’m willing to bear. That is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” He also told the police that if they couldn’t find the parents to the 28 children, he would take them home, ultimately taking eight children and opening an orphanage in Haiti. “I have to do this. I want to do this. Because these children were rescued in the name of my son,” the man said. →

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