Sound Of Freedom’s Real Life Character Inspirations & What Happened To Them

The characters in Sound of Freedom are reportedly inspired by real people, leaving many to wonder what they’re up to now. The movie chronicles the work of Tim Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security official, who tries to rescue human trafficking victims. Ballad works alongside colleagues and police task forces from Colombia, and some other people featured in the film have real-life counterparts, too. The people Sound of Freedom‘s characters are based on have led interesting lives since the film’s events in 2013, although some faded into obscurity and others found themselves at the center of scandals.

Sound of Freedom premiered on July 4, 2023, and it was a box office success, grossing over $250 million worldwide on a $14 million budget (via The Numbers). While the release of Sound of Freedom was met with criticism over its alleged QAnon ties and accuracy, the film resonated with some audience members. That’s in part because of the characters, but the movie doesn’t cover what happened to their real-life counterparts after its events.

Tim Ballard

He Resigned From Operation Underground Railroad Due To Grooming & Sexual Assault Allegations

Tim Ballard was the brains behind Operation Underground Railroad in Sound of Freedom and in real life. He traveled to Columbia to take down a human trafficking ring virtually but soon grew tired of not being able to save children in person. Wanting to make a real difference in the lives of the children, Ballard quit his job to help save a child who was being trafficked and started Operation Underground Railroad. Ballard traveled to Colombia to help authorities save the little girl alongside dozens of other victims in a big sting operation.

Unfortunately, the real story of Ballard was anything but heroic and ended with legal problems for him. Shortly before Sound of Freedom premiered in July 2023, Ballard resigned from his position as CEO of Operation Underground Railroad after multiple sexual assault and grooming complaints. While conducting some of his sting operations, Ballard was accused of pretending to be someone’s spouse to take advantage of them in what was called a “couples ruse.” Ballard also faced accusations of sexual tourism and complaints of taking advantage of the sting operations for his financial gain (via Rolling Stone).

Katherine Ballard

She Also Faced Legal Issues But The Lawsuit Against Her Was Dismissed

Katherine Ballard is Tim Ballard’s wife and the mother of their six children. Katherine is very supportive of her husband’s mission in Sound of Freedom and encourages him to stay in Colombia to rescue a trafficked girl. While she does not appear very often in the movie, her presence keeps Tim going, and she is seen in photos.

In real life, Tim had to be convinced by Katherine to stay and complete his mission instead of coming home to the U.S. Similar to her husband, Katherine has faced legal difficulties over the past couple of years. She was named in a civil lawsuit and accused of promoting the “couples ruse” her husband created and using it for financial gain (via KUTV). However, in May 2024, the lawsuit against her was dismissed because of lack of evidence she had anything directly to do with the grooming and abuse allegations (via ABC).

Vampiro

His Whereabouts Are Unknown

Vampiro is one of the many people who assisted Ballard in the sting operation in Sound of Freedom. A former money launderer who used to work for the cartels, he has a life-altering experience after having sex with an underage sex worker and decides to focus on setting child sex slaves free. According to Operation Underground Railroad, the organization that Ballard was part of before his unceremonious release, none of the movie’s details about Vampiro are true, based on the real person on which he is depicted.

In real life, Vampiro went by Batman, keeping his real name a secret to hide his identity. Also, he never went to prison for money laundering, as he did in the movie. He dedicated himself to his mission after sleeping with an adult trafficking victim, and not a minor (via Heavy). O.U.R. also stated, “Batman was involved with Operation Triple Take, but he did not actually participate in the Cartagena Operation, as depicted in the movie.” The real Vampiro’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Roberto Aguilar

Roberto Isn’t Based On One Specific Person

In Sound of Freedom, Roberto Aguilar is desperate to find his children after they are taken as sex slaves by Katy-Giselle. Despite his son Miguel being recovered safely, all that Roberto can do while they try to find his daughter, Rocío, is hope. While the story of Sound of Freedom takes some creative liberties, the character of Aguilar is loosely based on the parents of the children rescued during Operation Underground Railroad’s multiple sting operations.

This means that Roberto Aguilar was not based on any singular real person involved in the story in real life. However, while Roberto Aguilar is not based on a real person, his son Miguel Aguilar is based on a real child that Tim helped rescue while he was working as an HSI special agent. Ultimately, Rocio was not Miguel’s sister and not the daughter of anyone named Roberto. In all, Ballard rescued a reported 123 trafficking victims and 55 minors. Roberto puts a face to the parents looking for their kids.

Katy-Giselle

She Filed A Lawsuit Against The Film

Katy-Giselle is a former beauty queen and one of the sex traffickers in Sound of Freedom. Using her beauty queen credentials, she lures her victims to a fake audition, then persuades their parents to leave them with her during the “audition” and eventually sells them into slavery. Katy-Giselle is based on a real person, Kelly Johana Suarez, who participated in multiple beauty pageants in Colombia and later was accused of working as a human trafficker.

Similar to the movie storyline, Suarez was arrested during a joint sting operation by ICE and Colombian police in 2014 (via Ready Steady Cut). Suarez was one of five accused traffickers arrested on the island. Suarez went on to say she was unaware of the crimes she was accused of, and she ended up serving her time at the San Diego women’s prison in the Bolívar department.

Suarez spent 18 months in prison before being released but has never been convicted of any crime (via Salt Lake Tribune). In 2024, she filed a lawsuit against Tim Ballard and the team behind Sound of Freedom for defamation.

Frost

Based On Jeh Johnson, Who Now Works At A Law Firm

In Sound of Freedom, Frost is Ballard’s boss at the Department of Homeland Security, who tells him to come home after he completes his mission in Colombia. This prompts Ballard to quit his job and stay behind to search for Rocío and the other victims. Luckily, a sympathetic Frost convinces Colombian officials to help Ballard in any way possible.

Despite not having a real-life counterpart, Frost is probably loosely based on the Department of Homeland Security director at the time, Jeh Johnson, or Ballard’s unknown supervisor. Johnson was the fourth U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and served in that role from 2013 to 2017 under President Obama. That means he was in charge when the initial mission took place. Since leaving his role, he now works as a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

Pablo Delgado

Likely Based On Glenn Beck, Who Has A Radio Show

In Sound of Freedom, millionaire Pablo Delgado is the financial backer for Ballard’s mission and helps out as much as he possibly can. Delgado is likely based on Glenn Beck, an American political commentator who loaned Ballard the money he needed for the sting operation. According to Ballard, Beck “raised the money for us so that we could even do the operations. I had no money to do it” (via The Daily Signal). Ballard said Beck was going to be in the movie but was cut for time.

While Beck was cut, the replacement fictional character, Pablo Delgado, replaced him in the movie. Beck has a radio show called The Glenn Beck Program and has written many books about his political beliefs and lifestyle. By the time the events in Sound of Freedom happened, Beck had just left his job at Fox two years prior and was building his own platform. He still hosts his radio morning show on weekdays, broadcast on TheBlaze.

Jorge

Based On Various Colombian Officials

A Colombian police officer, Jorge, is one of the individuals who assisted Ballard during his sting operations. He’s a bit hesitant at first about wanting to help Ballard, but he eventually decides to aid him in any way he can. Jorge even introduces Ballard to Vampiro. While not much is known about his real-life counterpart, he is loosely based on the Colombian officials who assisted Ballard in real life.

As revealed at the movie’s ending, Jorge collaborates with Ballard to pursue leads found during the island raid. Like Roberto Aguilar, this character puts a face on several different real-life inspirations. While Roberto is the face for the many parents who seek to find their missing children that Ballard was setting out to rescue, Jorge represents all the officers south of the border who stood and fought alongside Ballard to save the abducted women and children from the sex traffickers.

El Alacrán “The Scorpion”

Based On Various Drug Lords & Sex Traffickers

Known as “The Scorpion,” El Alacrán is a Colombian crime lord who purchases Rocío Aguilar and dozens of other children. While Ballard did not kill anyone during the real sting operation, the ending of Sound of Freedom shows Ballard having to kill El Alacrán while escaping with Rocío. This is false on many levels, as Ballard never rescued Rocio, who remains missing to this day. He also never killed anyone, so this was added to create drama and a hero ending for Ballard in the movie.

There is no known real-life counterpart for El Alacrán, but he represents the drug lords and human traffickers that Ballard helped take down during the real sting operation. Ballard claims that all the villains in Sound of Freedom are based on real people. He also claims that even more bad guys that he had to face were cut because the movie was getting too long. However, Ballard admits that this specific scene with The Scorpion and the killing was “fictionalized.”

O.U.R. also dismissed this scene. They said, “Tim Ballard has never killed anyone, contrary to what is depicted in the film.” They emphasized they are not a “vigilante group” but work with local authorities to get the job done.

Rocío Aguilar

The Real Girl Is Still Missing To This Day

Rocío Aguilar is Miguel’s sister in the movie and the child that Ballard focuses on rescuing throughout the Sound of Freedom. Rocío and her brother, Miguel, are first seen going to what they believe is an audition hosted by Katy-Giselle. During her captivity, she becomes the personal sex slave for El Alacrán and other men. Tim then kills The Scorpion to rescue her and return her to her father. After being rescued, she returns home to Honduras with her family.

While Roberto was the face of the parents whose kids went missing, and Miguel was a real boy who Tim rescued, the story of Rocio was fictionalized for the movie. Ballard never killed anyone to rescue Rocio, and the rescue itself didn’t happen at all – gunfight or not. Miguel did have a sister who was also kidnapped, but she was never rescued and remains missing to this day. As for the movie’s scenes, the Rocio story was based on Tim’s search for a little boy named Gardy.

Gardy was also never found and remains missing. Ballard wears a bracelet with Gardy’s name on it to remind him of the kids they couldn’t save. “Some things, of course, are exaggerated. They take liberties as they do, and I’ve always told them, ‘If you take liberties, you can, but I’m not gonna pretend. If you make me look way more amazing than what I am or what I did, I’m gonna be honest about it’” (via History vs Hollywood).

Miguel Aguilar

Not Much Is Known About Him Today

Miguel Aguilar is one of two siblings who are captured in a sex ring at the beginning of Sound of Freedom. Miguel is rescued and reunited with his father with the help of the Colombian authorities and Ballard, but his sister Rocío is not. In real life, the boy Miguel is based on gave Ballard a necklace, which prompted his search for trafficked children. The necklace belonged to his sister, who was still in the traffickers’ custody. This leads Tm to set out to save as many kids as possible.

To keep the film as accurate as possible, the film crew filmed that particular scene at the exact location where Ballad’s real-life interaction took place. This scene was at the port of entry booth where Ballard worked as a Department of Homeland Security agent in Calexico, California. Because he was a child at the time of his rescue, there is no news on where the real Miguel Aguilar is now, but he played a strong part in Tim Ballard’s mission, both in real life and in the movie based on it.

Source: The Numbers, Rolling Stone, Heavy, Ready Steady Cut

Sound of Freedom

Based on the story of government agent Tim Ballard, Sound of Freedom is a dramatized-action film that follows Ballard as he heads to Colombia to break up a sex trafficking ring and save the children within it. After feeling like his work in the United States isn’t having the intended effect, Ballard decides to investigate further, learning that a former victim is still being held captive in Colombia.

Release Date

July 4, 2023

Director

Alejandro Monteverde

Cast

Jim Caviezel , Mira Sorvino , Bill Camp , Eduardo Verastegui , Javier Godino , José Zúñiga

Runtime

131 Minutes