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	Man Ordered to Trial on Sex-Abuse Charges Acting Jobs? Women Testified He Groped Them and Made Advances in His Media Company Offices By Stephen Hunt shunt@sltrib.com The Salt Lake Tribune [Salt Lake City UT] March 8, 2006 http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3579944 One woman wanted to learn Web design from Ozwald Balfour. Three others interviewed at Balfour's Salt Lake City media production company for acting jobs. Instead, all four ended up fending off Balfour's groping and sexual overtures, according to testimony Tuesday in a preliminary hearing in 3rd District Court. Balfour, 51, was ordered to stand trial on three counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony. Balfour did not comment after the hearing. But David Alleman, a South Jordan dentist, said friends and neighbors have raised $10,800 to help pay for Balfour's defense. "He's a legitimate person with a legitimate business who is being ruined because of these accusations," Alleman told The Salt Lake Tribune. Balfour, a founder of the Utah Republican Black Assembly, is a father of eight and an instructor in his Mormon ward's high priest group, Alleman said. But Balfour's alleged victims characterized him as an oversexed bait-and-switch artist. One woman testified she met him in the fall of 2003 at his studio, International Media Services, after she answered an ad about learning Web design. She filled out an application and started taking classes, but had no way to pay Balfour's fee of $5,000. Balfour claimed he was looking for a bank to provide the loan. She said she declined other suggestions for paying the fee, like appearing on film in lingerie. She said Balfour phoned one night claiming he had papers that had to be signed immediately. But when he arrived at her West Jordan home, he pinned her against a couch and asked if she wanted to "do anything for the money for school," she testified. When she asked him to leave, he dropped his pants and began rubbing against her, she testified. He also attempted to remove her pants and tried to put his hands up her shirt, she said. Three other attacks allegedly occurred Jan. 21, 2005, at Balfour's studio, 340 W. Whitney Ave. (1410 South) . One woman said Balfour took her to a dark room adjoining his office, where he locked the door and tried to get his hands under her shirt. Another woman wept as she recalled Balfour telling her, "Show me how a love scene goes." She said he kissed her neck and grabbed her breast. Balfour stopped when she pushed him away, she said. But as she walked from his office, Balfour picked up a check with "lots of zeros" on it and told her, "This is how much money you could make." Another alleged victim testified she was shopping for groceries when Balfour struck up a conversation, asking if she would like to appear in a children's movie. She agreed to come to his studio for a photo shoot. Shutting the door of his office behind them, Balfour asked her to turn around and commented, "Nice package," she testified. Then he unzipped her jacket, pushed it off her shoulders and tried to lift up her shirt, she said. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, she said, Balfour went to find a photographer. The woman said she called police the next day. Defense attorney Ben Hamilton produced photos taken of the woman that show her smiling vivaciously. On cross-examination, Hamilton learned that two of the other witnesses had been convicted of drug-related felonies, and one of them is serving jail time for forgery. Balfour hosted a current affairs program, "Talk of the Town," on K-Talk Radio, 630 AM.
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