Larry Ray, the father of a former student at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College, has been found guilty on all charges that were brought against him.
The New York Timesreports the 62-year-old was charged with 15 counts, including racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy, forced labor, extortion, tax evasion, and other crimes. Ray faces a maximum of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Back in February 2020, a federal indictment detailed how Ray physically, sexually, and psychologically abused students from Sarah Lawrence College, a private liberal arts school in Yonkers, NY.
Ray’s alleged cult began in 2010, when he moved into his daughter’s residence after he was released from prison related to a dispute over child-custody. In 2019, New York Magazine did a profile on Ray titled “The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence.”
“He used the threatening displays of violence both to create fear and maintain control over his victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mollie Bracewell told jurors in her closing argument. “His victims would be too terrified to say no to his demands.”
Bracewell continued, “When his victims were completely subdued, when they were under his control, he committed crimes to get them to pay — extortion, forced labor, sex trafficking, obstruction of justice, financial crimes. The defendant did all of this for control, for his own greed, and to increase his power, to cement his position in the organized group that he led.”
