The psychic who provided guidance to Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad says she never claimed to converse with an ancient Book of Mormon prophet and has been the victim of a widely reported narrative that she said is false.
Janet Russon, who has not spoken publicly about her part in OUR and the allegations against Ballard, broke her silence in a two-hour podcast called “The Last Dispensation,” which typically explores fringe beliefs among some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about secret societies, satanic ritual abuse and globalism.
Evidence gathered as part of an investigation into OUR by the Davis County attorney’s office and FBI purportedly included about 10,000 pages of psychic readings done by Russon, according to documents obtained through an open records request.
In an email from Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings to the Utah attorney general’s office, Rawlings says that “Janet Russon talks to dead Mormon leaders, particularly a Mormon prophet from 600 B.C. named Nephi, to get intel on where to find [a kidnapped child] in particular, but also with respect to a slew of other things.”
“As I understand it, we have somewhere around 10,000 pages of Janet Russon ‘Readings’ as part of the investigator case file,” Rawlings wrote. " Donors are not made aware that Nephi, via [Ms.] Russon, is the key piece of OUR operational intelligence.”
On an episode of the podcast that was aired this week, Russon denied Rawlings ever had the files and asserted he obtained some information illegally.
“They don’t exist. I want your audience to know, I want everyone to know, they don’t exist,” she said. “He’s never had pages in his possession.”
Russon said she believes Rawlings allegedly got access to a Google Drive link and accessed it, even though a judge did not give him permission to do so, read some emails and mistakenly attributed them to Nephi.
“There’s no talking to the Book of Mormon deceased prophet Nephi,” Russon said. “…That’s completely false.”
The Book of Mormon is the signature scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Rawlings declined to comment Friday on Russon’s assertions.
The psychic said she spent 10 years working alongside Ballard at OUR in various capacities but is no longer employed by the organization.
Ballard and OUR are named in four civil lawsuits, three of which allege he manipulated, groomed and engaged in sexual misconduct, abuse and assault against a total of seven women. Russon is named as a defendant in two of those suits.
Ballard is also the focus of two criminal investigations — one stemming from a complaint to the Lindon Police Department and one announced Friday by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a longtime Ballard friend and associate.
Russon also suggested in the podcast that the women’s allegations were fabricated.
Although the lawsuits do not put a figure to damages being sought, Russon asserted the plaintiffs are individually seeking millions of dollars and those funds would be better spent allowing OUR to rescue as many as 15,000 children from sex traffickers.
“Donors like myself who donated believing … that that money is going to go to rescues, these women are demanding to have that money in their pockets,” Russon said. She went on to claim the plaintiffs are not only punishing Ballard and OUR, “but they’re punishing these children.”
Suzette Rasmussen, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Russon “has made quite a lucrative income for herself, making staggering amounts of money from donations made to Operation Underground Railroad.”
“For her to make these claims about these victims of Tim Ballard and OUR who volunteered to try and rescue children shows that she is part of the ruse that Ballard and OUR inflicted upon these brave women and naive donors,” Rasmussen said. “Discovery will demonstrate that she is the one in it for the money, and her appearance on this conspiracy podcast shows that she wants fame.”
Russon falsely said that a statement issued by the LDS Church rebuking Ballard for “morally unacceptable” behavior and misusing the name of late apostle M. Russell Ballard never actually came from the church. (Tim and Russell Ballard are not related.) Russon said she called the church five times and each time was told the church never issued such a statement.
A church spokesperson, however, has repeatedly confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune and other media outlets that the statement did come from the Utah-based faith.
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