Released on the July 4 to acclaim from conservative audiences and critics, Sound of Freedom has been a box-office bash, pulling in over $150 million thanks in part to a pay-it-forward ticket promotion, as well as churches and other groups buying up blocks of seats for their members. Even while anti-trafficking groups condemned the film's distorted depiction of child sex trafficking, fans claimed it was raising awareness of a serious issue — and it has found strong support among QAnon adherents who believe in the existence of a pedophile cabal that drinks the blood of abducted youths.

But now that a Missouri man who donated money toward the film's promotion has been charged with kidnapping a child, those same Sound of Freedom supporters suddenly appear more concerned with the movie's reputation than the welfare of the possible victim.

Fabian Marta, 51, was arrested on July 21 in St. Louis, Missouri, for the alleged abduction of a non-relative child under the age of 14, a class A felony. His attorney, Scott Rosenblum, tells Rolling Stone that he plans to plead not guilty. Rosenblum adds that he is "baffled" by the state's case against Marta. "It's very hard for me to connect the dots, and I don't really know how they're proceeding," he says, nevertheless holding out optimism that they'll attack the charge "fairly easily."