Documentary defending indicted Rep. Tricia Derges in production from Branson filmmaker

A documentary film focused on a state lawmaker under federal indictment and awaiting trial is currently in production, according to a trailer released this week by a Branson-based film company.

The eight-minute preview of "Targeted: The Tricia Derges Story" features clips of former associates, her husband Daniel and patients speaking favorably of Derges and her work. The Nixa Republican and southwest Missouri medical clinic operator is facing 23 charges that include selling fake stem cell treatments, fraudulently using federal pandemic aid, writing illegal prescriptions and lying to federal investigators.

Derges has maintained her innocence and has rejected four separate plea deals.

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The documentary is being directed and produced by Ryan Sorensen, a Branson-based filmmaker and hospitality manager. He said in an email the film was "completely" his idea, and that it "would be a story that people would want to hear about."

Derges' attorney, Al Watkins, said in a text message he "had nothing to do with its production" but that "the video clearly presents an obvious question, one which will be equally clearly answered at the trial." Derges did not respond to a request for comment.

Sorensen said he had spoken to Derges about his desire to make the film, which began production in March.

"No one stood in my way as far as my requests for information or the ability to interview her patients," he said. "She was not in the room with me while I interviewed her patients."

The trailer for the movie begins by ticking through news coverage of Derges' medical clinics in southwest Missouri, which targeted low-income patients, veterans and the homeless and earned her acclaim and awards.

Several patients — listed as Brandon Powell, Chris Klier and Kim Allred — speak during the trailer. In a voiceover, Powell calls her "a female version of Patch Adams," referring to the physician, comedian and activist.

"She would rather die than to see her patients go without the care that they need," Erin Tompkins, who is listed as a general manager at Derges' Ozark Valley Medical Clinic, says in the trailer. Ruby Weyrauch, listed as an office administrator at the clinic on LinkedIn, is also listed in the credits, though she does not appear in the trailer.

The video also details the FBI investigation, arrest and federal indictment of Derges, claiming that agents took patient files from the clinic that have not been returned.

Her husband, Daniel, recounts how federal agents told him they were "talking to" Derges.

"They said 'well we're talking to her,'" he says. "Well, they weren't talking to her. They had thrown her in jail."

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri declined to comment.

"If being arrested and tried by the media wasn't enough ... the persecution continued at the Capitol in Jefferson City," the trailer says.

Derges has been barred from caucus meetings, stripped of her committee assignments, reassigned to a closet office in the Capitol and barred from running for re-election as a Republican. She was on the House floor for the final day of the legislative session earlier this month.

Former Rep. Lynn Morris, who held Derges' seat prior to her election and left due to term limits, also appears in the trailer, criticizing House Republicans' discipline of Derges. Morris now serves on the Christian County Commission.

Mark McCloskey, a St. Louis attorney who with his wife brandished guns at protesters outside his home in 2020 and is running for U.S. Senate as a Republican, is also listed in the credits for the trailer.

"Mark has agreed to be interviewed for the film," Sorensen said. "The questions we will discuss with him have yet to be determined."

His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Sorensen's company, Verum Films, is based in Branson, according to its LLC filings with the Missouri Secretary of State's office. It was formed in April 2021.

Among the company's other productions is "Noncompliant," a documentary centered on a keynote speech given by self-described attorney KrisAnne Hall, who addressed a neo-Confederate hate group in Florida in 2019. Another Verum documentary, 2021's "Nonessential," focuses on "tyranny" surrounding COVID-19 restrictions.

The film does not yet have a firm release date, Sorensen said.

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.