SALT LAKE CITY — Police data from 134 agencies in Utah contradict statements made by Utah Attorney Sean Reyes surrounding the use of psychics by law enforcement.
Donors gave millions of dollars to Operation Underground Railroad, a nonprofit whose mission is to fight against human trafficking, not realizing tens of thousands of dollars were instead being spent on a psychic who claimed to be able to speak to the “dead Mormon prophet Nephi” for information.
A psychic named Janet Russon was paid a “monthly consultant fee” of approximately $5,000 and an “hourly/ operational readings contract” of approximately $1,560, according to documents authored by the Davis County Attorney’s Office and later released by the Utah AG's Office.
Reyes has publicly supported the nonprofit for years and released a statement in September justifying OUR’s use of a psychic.
According to the Utah AG’s Office, Reyes “did not personally witness Janet provide operational intel, but (psychics) on occasion provide helpful information leading law enforcement to useful evidence, including for lost or abducted individuals.”
According to a civil lawsuit, Ballard took ketamine while talking to Nephi via Russon, listening to “prophecies about his greatness and future as a United States Senator, President of the United States, and ultimately the Mormon Prophet, to usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ.”
Emails from the Davis County Attorney’s Office to the Utah AG’s Office indicate investigators had obtained “somewhere around 10,000 pages” of psychic readings from Russon as part of the criminal investigation, which was at least partially concluded without the filing of charges.
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings declined to comment.
Blaze Media obtained an audio clip of a psychic reading in which “Nephi” tells Ballard about his rightful place at the top of OUR.
“You’re always accompanied by angels,” Russon states. “You are always meant to be at the helm of OUR.”
Ballard "permanently separated” from OUR in July after an internal affairs investigation in which he was accused of sexual misconduct by female OUR employees.
In a statement released in anticipation of this report, an attorney for OUR indicated the nonprofit no longer speaks with the dead.
“During the Davis County investigation and during the independent investigation into allegations of Tim Ballard’s misconduct, it became apparent that Tim Ballard’s reliance on and use of Janet Russon for her represented ‘abilities’ was beyond the scope the organization was comfortable with. As such, upon the conclusion of the investigation, OUR moved to separate from Janet and did so concurrently with separating with Tim.”
“Janet Russon is no longer working with OUR, and any work Janet Russon did involving her self-proclaimed psychic abilities was limited to Tim Ballard’s operations, which made up less than 1% of OUR’s activity between January 2022 and his departure in 2023.”
“Operating in accordance with anti-trafficking best practices is our priority. We are mindful of our obligation to act as responsible stewards of our donors’ funds, and OUR’s current leadership does not see value in the use of psychic mediums.”
OUR said it did not immediately have stats available related to Ballard’s “operations” prior to January 2022.
Six women and one man have filed civil lawsuits against Ballard, Russon, and OUR.
FOX 13 News attempted to speak with Russon at her home in Utah County, but she has not responded to requests for comment.
The Police Perspective
Chris Burbank remembers psychics “coming out of his ears” in 2002, when the Salt Lake City Police Department was looking for Elizabeth Smart.
Burbank was the executive officer at the time. He would later become SLCPD Chief of Police.
He said he was "very concerned” when he read Reyes’ statement justifying the use of psychics.
“To say that this is a valid police technique? That is an inaccurate statement,” Burbank said. “It makes for good TV drama, not for good real-life investigations.”
“Should donors be upset?” asked FOX 13 News investigative reporter Adam Herbets.
“Oh, absolutely,” Burbank said. “It’s a wholly inappropriate use of funds.”
Some describe Russon going into a “trance” or “séance,” pointing to a map to tell Ballard and OUR operatives where to search for the missing children.
Burbank’s response?
“No. I don’t believe it at all,” he said. “We’re not aligning the stars and employing that technique either, but I’m sure there’s somebody who believes that’s the right way to do it.”
Burbank explained many police departments have a policy of answering phone calls from psychics who offer tips. Sometimes a psychic may volunteer information that wasn’t actually obtained through supernatural powers, so a detective looks into it, but he said police should never spend taxpayer money to pay for information from “beyond.”
“If (Reyes) wants to use his own money for that, then let him!” Burbank said. “It’s not reliable... There is no, in my opinion, validity behind any of this.”
FOX 13 News filed a public records request with 134 Utah law enforcement agencies, asking for copies of any documents since January 1, 2022, showing that they’ve paid for the services of a “psychic, medium, clairvoyant, fortune teller, angel, or other supernatural being.”
134 of those 134 agencies said they had no records.
Several agencies thought the request was not serious.
“With all due respect, I thought this was a joke,” wrote Fairview City Recorder Nathan Kent Nelson. “We have no files of the sort and use no supernatural forces in the administration of our city’s police department.”
“I am confident in being able to say that none of the methods you mentioned are a practice that the Tooele City Police Department uses to solve or provide direction on cases,” wrote Corporal Colbey Bentley. “As a police department, we strive to use evidence-based approached that have proven results to solve cases... We will continue to adhere to evidence-based investigative methods in order to provide the best possible service to our residents.”
FOX 13 News also reached out to more than 24 veteran law enforcement officers in Utah to see if they have ever heard of a case in which police paid for a psychic.
“I doubt they would,” said a retired police lieutenant. “That would be funny though.”
Another veteran officer – a retired chief for multiple Utah police departments – said his officers have never paid for a psychic, but he wouldn’t necessarily rule out.
“Double edged sword,” he wrote. “Who do you use, when, etc? But I’m a firm believer that no stone should ever go unturned in a case which has otherwise gone cold.”
If FOX 13 News is able to find a case in Utah where police paid for the services of a psychic, we will update this story.
The FBI Perspective
Frank Montoya Jr. spent 26 years as an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He most recently served as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle Field Office.
He remembers listening to “all kinds of interesting calls” from psychics while working the night shift as a young agent.
“I will admit, belatedly, that some of it was entertaining,” Montoya said, “but none of it bore any fruit.”
“Do you believe in it at all?”
“No, not at all,” Montoya responded. “I believe in the living prophet, but that doesn’t mean I believe in magic.”
Montoya is also a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He believes members of his religion are often more likely to believe in psychic or supernatural powers, despite Church teachings.
“What’s Nephi going to tell them?” Montoya asked. “My faith is about trying to live the best life I can on this planet... I don’t expect (anyone) to tell me what Joseph Smith said to him or Nephi said to him. That’s not how it works, and anybody who is a true person of faith understands that.”
The Church discourages its members from consulting with psychics.
“Mediums, astrologers, fortune tellers, and sorcerers are inspired by Satan even if they claim to follow God. Their works are abominable to the Lord,” according to a Mormon text entitled Gospel Principles.
Montoya explained his interactions with psychics often led to them asking questions rather than answering questions.
“No offense, but sometimes it was like talking to a reporter. There were only limited things you could tell them, but it was always interesting to know what their questions were,” Montoya said. “We have to scrutinize how we pay real sources, so why shouldn’t we scrutinize how we pay pseudo-sources?”
“If I was a donor? I wouldn’t be making any more donations,” Montoya added. “I think (Reyes) owes more to the public, especially because he talks about psychics being as ‘useful’ as they are.”
The CIA Perspective
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has researched the use of psychics by law enforcement, interviewing 11 police officers as part of a study approved for release to the public on August 7, 2000.
The study indicates some psychics are “talented” and able to help solve cases.
“Based upon this study, it would appear that a talented psychic can assist you by helping to: locate a geographic area of a missing person, narrow the number of leads to be concentrated on, highlight information that has been overlooked, or provide information previously unknown to the investigator."
The study said it’s best to consult with a psychic who isn’t seeking money or name recognition.
Several sources to FOX 13 News scoffed at the findings, saying just because the CIA researches and publishes a study doesn’t make it a valid law enforcement technique.
“Does that mean it’s endorsed? Yeah, I don’t think so,” Montoya said. “These are the same guys that did MKUltra and thought there was intelligence value to the use of LSD.”
“The CIA has looked into LSD,” Burbank said. “The CIA has looked into aliens. They look into everything!”
FOX 13 News reached out to the CIA for clarification on whether the study represents its current views.
We have not yet received a response.
Law enforcement professionals said they believe a “talented psychic” likely does not actually have supernatural powers; they’re just individuals who are more analytical or intuitive when information is provided to them.
“It is no different than me taking an educated guess,” Burbank said. “I daresay, I can pick 20 friends I know – including you – that would be very good at doing this and come up with just as accurate a case or outcome as anyone who claims to be a psychic.”
Montoya likened it to a baseball player who decides to swing at the next pitch “because he guessed right that it’s a fastball.”
“I mean, he just felt it was right,” Montoya said. “Even before it left the pitcher’s hand. Stuff like that does happen... I don’t know if I’d call it psychic, but I would say intuitive or instinctive.”
The Psychic Perspective
Dr. Juhl Helias also describes herself as a psychic and medium. She has her own experience working on missing-persons cases.
Without going into specifics, to protect client privacy, she described a situation approximately seven years ago in which someone contacted her from the Ozarks trying to find a missing loved one.
“She’s like, ‘I’m going to send you a map. Can you point to the map?’” Dr. Juhl described. “And I thought, ‘Oh God. I don’t want to be that crazy psychic who’s just like – let me just throw a dart at the dart board!’”
Then she “focused in on an area of the map” and determined the missing person was “not too far from her car.”
Dr. Juhl said the client provided the information to police, and the missing person was found.
“I don’t always get a happy ending,” Dr. Juhl said. “Psychic is about tuning into something – a person, place, or thing – a subject around it. Medium is tuning into the dead and having conversations with the dead. It’s channeling. It’s very, very different.”
Since Dr. Juhl is a psychic, you might think she supports law enforcement using psychics.
Not necessarily. She understands why there are so many skeptics.
“It’s not completely accepted socially. It’s really fringe work,” she said. “The assumption, most of the time, even for me dealing with psychics, is I’m not a believer until I’m a believer. You have to prove it... Half of the psychics in the spiritual world are not gifted at all, and they’re just there to show up and have money, to make money. They’re charlatans.”
She is "not a fan” of spending taxpayer money or donor money on a psychic, but she does believe someone with her level of talent could help a police investigation.
“Only in extenuating circumstances where they’ve exhausted everything, or if they have a reliable psychic that’s actually consistent. Or at least honest, and those are hard to find,” Dr. Juhl said. “If you have a good one, then it’s a good option, but if you were to go and check with every psychic out there? No. I would be severely disappointed.”
“I think psychics, if you’re a good one, it’s the icing on the cake or the cherry. It’s not the whole cake.”
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Edit: This story has been updated to include a late response from the Piute County Sheriff's Office in which the agency clarified it has never paid for a psychic.