‘Sound of Freedom’ Investor Arrested And Charged with Child Kidnapping

Fabian Marta is one of many financiers of the Christian anti-child trafficking film “Sound of Freedom,” but he has been arrested and charged with child kidnapping.

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“Fabian Marta was charged with felony child kidnapping in July, while since-removed Facebook posts appear to show the same person revealing their pride in funding the film. Marta’s name appears in the movie’s credits among the ‘investors [who] helped bring Sound of Freedom to theaters,” Newsweek reported Friday.

The publication pointed out that in the state of Missouri, “child kidnapping is a class A felony. If found guilty, Marta could face 10 years to life in prison.”

The film itself is based on the supposedly true story of Tim Ballard, who is a former Department of Homeland Security agent, and the charity organization he founded called Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). The film has been widely promoted by conservative media and surprised movie professionals by performing so well after having trouble getting distribution after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox.

However, some of its success has been brought into question as fans reported entering “sold out” shows to empty theaters. “But some of the patterns of sales are raising accusations the people buying these seats aren’t real,” the Daily Dot reported.

But supporters of the movie claim that AMC is deliberately keeping the movie down with tactics like the air conditioning malfunctioning and other obstacles they report encountering while trying to view the movie.

AMC has denied these claims. The movie has an odd “Pay it forward” scheme where the studio encourages people to buy tickets for others, which in July was up to $7 million dollars. There isn’t a lot of transparency about where the money is going, but they admit it could fund future endeavors if there is money left over, and given why people are supporting it, it doesn’t seem like they would be bothered if the money was even just pocketed.

The studio also encourages people to buy tickets for their employees, “Every ticket counts. Your business can help reach the goal of 2 million seats by providing tickets to your employees. Complete this form and we will send you a quote.”

“Sound of Freedom” already courted controversy with the hero played by Jim Caviezel, who has espoused QAnon conspiracy theories. The movie itself, due to its themes, has been accused of catering to QAnon beliefs, although the studio denies any connection.

The film is based on a man whom experts say actually has little to do with the international fight against human trafficking. Vice, which points out that hero Ballard was “appointed by President Donald Trump to a council meant to guide federal anti-trafficking policymaking,” found in Ballard’s charity of OUR not “outright falsehoods but a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading.”

Vanity Fair reported, “But according to Erin Albright, an attorney and longtime adviser to anti-trafficking task forces, Ballard and OUR aren’t actually central to the international fight against human trafficking. ‘The majority of the [anti-trafficking] field views them as fringe,’ she tells me. “’They peddle sensationalism…and they fundraise off it.'”

Marta is mentioned in the credits as part of the crowd-funding source for the film.

His arrest for child-kidnapping is more relevant than it might seem given the theme of the movie and the way it caters to QAnon conspiracy theories, a movement that claims to be concerned about child sex trafficking while sometimes publicly embracing people accused of sex trafficking. QAnon, huge supporters of Donald J Trump, only sees human trafficking as real if it involves a Democrat, but of course, human trafficking is sadly a bipartisan affair.

It is not that surprising that someone who helped fund a narrative about a hero going after child sex traffickers is himself arrested and charged with child kidnapping. The psychological need to see oneself as a hero of the most vulnerable can mask true horrors.

Sarah Jones

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