Man who lived in daughter’s Sarah Lawrence College dorm convicted of sex trafficking, forced labor and other federal crimes

“Twelve years ago, Larry Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in the news release. “And when he got there, he met a group of friends who had their whole lives ahead of them. For the next decade, he used violence, threats, and psychological abuse to try to control and destroy their lives. He exploited them. He terrorized them. He tortured them. Let me be very clear. Larry Ray is a predator. An evil man who did evil things.”

The sex trafficking conviction comes with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.

He extorted payments from victims after getting them to make false confessions about causing damages to him, his family and associates, according to the indictment. Victims drained their parents savings, opened credit lines and sold real estate ownership to pay Ray. He also directed the victims to do unpaid labor for him and earn money for him through prostitution.

Ray forced one woman to engage in commercial sex acts to pay damages to Ray — money she never owed, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Ray groomed her when she was a college student and collected sexually explicit photos and other information to coerce her to commit more commercial sex acts, the office said.

In one instance of Ray’s alleged brutality, he tied the woman to a chair, put a plastic bag over her head and nearly suffocated her, according to the indictment. He collected millions of dollars of forced prostitution proceeds from this victim, according to the US Attorney’s Office.