SALT LAKE CITY — The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL issued a statement Wednesday saying Head Coach Mike Tomlin has not been associated with Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad for "several years" despite high-profile interactions with the nonprofit and its former leader.
In 2018, Tomlin was shown in an ESPN feature story flying around in a helicopter with Ballard in Haiti just five days before Steelers training camp.
In the video, Tomlin meets with at least one "OUR operative" who later agreed to testify against the nonprofit as part of a criminal fraud investigation.
The head coach asked Ballard to speak with the team in 2017, according to another ESPN report.
"This is something that's easy to get behind. It's not in any way divisive," Tomlin said.
The Steelers have since removed an August 2018 article from the team's website titled "Tomlin helping to tell a tough story," depicting the head coach's ties to OUR.
According to a Facebook post by Deseret Book, Tomlin wrote the foreword to one of Ballard's books. However, the bookstore, which is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no longer sells Ballard's work.
Ballard and OUR have been named as defendants in four civil lawsuits, which accuse the organization of fake rescues, covering up sexual misconduct, misuse of donor funds, taking false credit for the work of other organizations, drinking, partying, and creating a demand for human trafficking rather than taking meaningful steps to prevent it.
"Many of these OPS (operations) included wealthy men with no military training, who wanted an 'experience vacation' where they dropped into third-world countries to rescue trafficked children, with photo opportunities and stories in the local newspapers of their heroics, all the while flying first class," one lawsuit reads. "While promotional and media materials made the OPS appear to be paramilitary drop-ins to arrest traffickers and rescue children, what most OPS consisted of was going to strip clubs and massage parlors across the world, after flying first class to get there, and staying at 5-star hotels, on boats, and at VRBOs across the globe."
Tomlin's name is mentioned several times in court documents related to the investigation of OUR.
In an August 2021 interview with the FBI, Cherstyn Stockwell described how OUR would lie to donors about the "ongoing" search for a missing boy named Gardy Mardy.
"(FBI Special Agent) Luke asked if, outside the marketing efforts, and what was being shown in the media, if there were internal efforts being used and operations to search for Gardy?"
"Cherstyn said she only knew of one incident when they took Mike Tomlin, the coach for the Pittsburg Stealers (sic). Cherstyn said that this was a big media one and they said that was the mission, and they all came back in tears saying they didn't find him (Gardy). Cherstyn said that was the only operation she knew of to look for Gardy."
In an October 2020 interview with the Davis County Attorney's Office, Dave Lopez described how OUR would use high-profile individuals like Tomlin and author Tony Robbins for media appearances to create promotional videos that lie about its operations.
FOX 13 News posed the following questions to Tomlin via the Steelers organization.
- Does the above description match Tomlin's experience?
- How much time/ money did he donate to the nonprofit?
- Did he witness anything unusual or have suspicions about OUR's intentions?
- How does he feel about the vast amount of new information coming to light?
Burt Lauten, senior director of communications for the Steelers, replied via email Wednesday with the following response:
"Mike Tomlin has not been associated with their organization for several years and won't be commenting any further," Lauten wrote.
According to a YouTube video posted by "Tim Ballard Official" in 2018, Tomlin planned to continue working with OUR.
"This is just one of the many ways I plan to continue my involvement," he said.