Draft:Larry Ray (cult leader)

PARAKANYAA (talk) 08:54, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

Larry Ray (born Lawrence Grecco in 1959) is a criminal who was convicted of multiple counts of sex trafficking, racketeering, and forced labor. He founded what was described as a "sex cult" at Sarah Lawrence College.

Financial crimes
Ray was born Lawrence Grecco in 1959. In the year 2000, federal investigators charged Lawrence Ray with attempting to bribe a bond brokerage firm executive, and he was eventually sentenced to five years of probation in 2004. He later violated his probation when he allegedly abducted his daughter, Talia.

Sex trafficking
following his release from prison, resided in the on-campus apartment of his daughter, Talia Ray. Sarah Lawrence College later told New York Magazine that it was not aware that he had been living on campus. While there, Ray started a sex cult in which he presented himself to students as a former US Marine with training in psychological operations, as well as past work with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Manhattan apartment
In 2011, he and some of the group of students moved into the apartment of Lee Chen in nearby New York City. He would even manage to convince Santos Rosario's sister Felica to leave her medical training program in California and join them in the Manhattan apartment. It took 6 years for Lee Chen to get an eviction of Ray from his apartment.

In 2013, four of Ray's victims graduated from Sarah Lawrence. In that same year, he used Yallitza and Felicia Rosario as forced labor workers on his stepfather's property in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The following year, he coerced former student Claudia Drury into working at a sex club. In 2015, he then started to traffic Claudia into prostitution. In 2016, Ray, Felicia Rosario, and Isabella Pollock moved into the home of one of Ray's friends in New Jersey.

In February 2020, he was charged by prosecutors in Manhattan with conspiracy, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, and other related offenses, following nearly 10 years of alleged transgressions with students and former students. At a bail hearing, an assistant U.S. Attorney disclosed to the Manhattan federal court that Ray had been arrested while in bed with one of his victims; bail was denied. Defense attorneys argued Ray, who had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder, was influenced by his psychological problems. Ray was convicted on all counts on April 6, 2022. On January 20, 2023, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison. On February 22, 2023, Isabella Pollock was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for money laundering.