Sounds like police sirens for this “Freedom” fan.
One of the nearly 7,000 people who gave money to the unexpected summer blockbuster “Sound of Freedom” was arrested last month on kidnapping charges.
Missouri native Fabian Marta was picked up by police on July 21 and charged two days later with felony child kidnapping, according to a St. Louis police report.
Marta, 51, was the landlord to a woman and child who were involved in a custody dispute with the woman’s aunt.
The Post reached out to the St. Louis police for comment.
Marta’s attorney Scott Rosenblum told The Post that his client will plead “not guilty” at his August 28th hearing.
“The charges are ill-conceived,” Rosenblum told The Post. “He had nothing to do with kidnapping anyone.”
Rosenblum said that he also fully expects his client to be acquitted.
According to Angel Studios, the film’s distributor, they had no knowledge of Marta’s background.
“Angel Studios adhered to the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations in allowing 6,678 people to invest an average of $501 each into the launch of ‘Sound of Freedom’,”Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said. “Just as anyone can invest in the stock market, everyone who meets the legal criteria can invest in Angel Studios projects. One of the perks of investing was the ability to be listed in the credits.”
“We’re grateful to brave law enforcement officials who have already arrested dozens of traffickers in the weeks following ‘Sound of Freedom’s’ release,” continued Harmon. “Our film speaks to this globally-pervasive problem, and it is our hope that perpetrators everywhere will be brought to justice no matter who they are, and that even more people will see the film to raise awareness.”
The flick, which beat the new “Indiana Jones” film at the box office, tells the true life-inspired story of former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel) as he attempts to set up an organization known as Operation Underground Railroad, as a means to prevent child-trafficking.
Since debuting in theaters on July 4, 2023, fans have claimed that several cinema chains have “sabotaged” showings of the film.
One TikTok user who saw the film opening day claimed the theatrical experience was “uncomfortable.” On a post with over 900,000 views, Ohio rapper Jamskillet — born Jacob Matthews — told his followers that when he saw the film with his girlfriend, “there was no AC running” and it “was unbearably hot.”
Matthews, 30, said that he sought out an AMC employee and asked to have the AC restored — only for the worker to reply that it wasn’t working.
The musician also claimed that when he went to purchase tickets the entire theater appeared to be heavily booked, but when he arrived it was just him, his partner and “maybe eight other people” at the screening.
Another moviegoer posted a video of an employee offering attendees “free passes to come back and see [the movie] again, hopefully without interruption” after the cinema lights failed to dim.
The employee then said that they “apologize for the inconvenience. But we’re getting it hopefully looked at later in the week.”
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, called out the accusers on Twitter, throwing water on the idea that the movie giant was “suppressing” the film.
Really bizarre FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] floating around Twitter that we are suppressing attendance for Sound of Freedom,” tweeted Aron. “Yesterday we showed that movie 3,000 times at our 570 U.S. theatres and more than 100,000 people watched it @AMCTheatres. Misinformation on Twitter is astonishing. Bots? Haters?”
The accusations of experience tampering come on the heels of the film being criticized for promoting pro-QAnon conspiracy theories. Caviezel, 54, is said to have regularly repeated such falsehoods.
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