Imagine you’re twenty. You're at Sarah Lawrence College, a prestigious liberal arts school where the tuition is high and the intellectual curiosity is even higher. You have roommates you love. Then, one day, one of those roommates brings her dad to stay.
He’s not just some suburban dad. He’s Larry Ray.
He’s charismatic. He has stories about Mikhail Gorbachev and the NYPD. He's just out of prison, but he makes it sound like he was a political martyr. Basically, he’s the most interesting person you’ve ever met. Within months, he’s not just sleeping on the couch; he’s running your life.
This is how the Sarah Lawrence sex cult began. It wasn't in a compound in the desert or a commune in the woods. It started in Slonim Woods 9, a student dormitory.
The "Guru" in the Dorm Room
It’s easy to look back now and think, "How did smart kids fall for this?" Honestly, that’s the wrong question. Larry Ray didn't start with abuse. He started with "therapy."
He sat these students down for hours. He listened to their insecurities. He told them they were "broken" and that only he had the "clarity" to fix them. You've probably heard of the term "coercive control." This was a masterclass in it. Ray positioned himself as a father figure, a mentor, and eventually, the ultimate arbiter of truth.
One of the victims, Daniel Levin, later wrote about how Ray would lead these grueling "interrogation sessions." He’d record them. He’d force students to confess to things they never did—like poisoning him or damaging his property.
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- He used sleep deprivation.
- He rationed their food.
- He alienated them from their parents.
If you told Ray you loved your mom, he’d tell you your mom was actually trying to sabotage your growth. He’d make you call her and scream at her. It was a systematic dismantling of a person's entire support system.
From Dorm Room to "The Ray Family"
By 2011, the group had moved off-campus to a Manhattan apartment. This is where things got significantly darker. Ray wasn't just a "guru" anymore; he was a trafficker.
Claudia Drury, one of the students, was eventually coerced into sex work. Ray convinced her she owed him millions of dollars for the "damage" she had supposedly caused his life. She testified that she earned over $2.5 million for him over four years. Think about that number. That is staggering. She was working nearly every day, sometimes making $50,000 a week, and every cent went to Ray.
He wasn't just taking her money. He was destroying her. He used "sadistic torture," according to prosecutors. He put plastic bags over her head. He choked her. He made her believe she was a monster who deserved the pain.
Meanwhile, other members like Santos Rosario were being forced to perform manual labor at a property in North Carolina. They were sleeping outside. They were being beaten for "incorrect" thoughts. It was a house of horrors hidden in plain sight in the Upper East Side.
Why Nobody Stopped It for a Decade
People always ask why the college didn't intervene. Sarah Lawrence is a small, tight-knit community. But Ray was a ghost. He was "crashing" there. By the time the administration might have noticed, the students were already so deep in his pocket that they would lie to protect him.
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It took a 2019 New York Magazine exposé titled "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence" to finally break the seal. The article, written by Ezra Marcus and James D. Walsh, was the catalyst that brought the FBI into the picture.
Even after his arrest in February 2020, Ray didn't stop. He tried to control his followers from behind bars. He claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy. He even claimed his victims had poisoned him with lead and mercury. He never showed remorse. Not once.
The Trial and the 60-Year Sentence
The trial in 2022 was brutal. Survivors had to sit feet away from their abuser and recount the most humiliating moments of their lives. Ray, meanwhile, would frequently claim "medical emergencies" to delay the proceedings. He was wheeled out on a stretcher twice.
The jury didn't buy it. They convicted him on 15 counts, including:
- Sex trafficking
- Extortion
- Forced labor
- Racketeering conspiracy
In January 2023, Judge Lewis Liman sentenced Larry Ray to 60 years in prison. The judge called him an "evil genius" and said his crimes were "sadism, pure and simple." As of 2026, Ray remains incarcerated at USP Terre Haute. He’s 66 years old now. With a 60-year sentence, he will almost certainly die in prison.
Life After the Cult
Recovery for the survivors hasn't been a straight line. You don't just "get over" ten years of psychological warfare.
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Felicia Rosario, who was an Ivy League-educated doctor before meeting Ray, has been incredibly vocal about the "deprogramming" process. She’s part of the Hulu docuseries Stolen Youth, which I highly recommend if you want to see the actual footage Ray recorded. It’s haunting to watch someone’s personality be erased in real-time.
Isabella Pollok, who was Ray’s "lieutenant" and also a victim herself, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and was sentenced to over four years. It’s a complicated part of the story—how a victim becomes an accomplice.
Spotting the Red Flags
The Sarah Lawrence sex cult is a extreme example, but the tactics Ray used are common in many high-control groups. If you're looking for actionable ways to protect yourself or others, keep these red flags in mind:
- The "Chosen" Narrative: If someone tells you that only they can see your true potential while everyone else (family, friends) is holding you back, run.
- Confession as Weaponry: Be wary of groups or mentors that demand you share your deepest traumas or secrets. In the wrong hands, that’s just blackmail material.
- Financial Entanglement: Cults almost always move toward your bank account. If you’re suddenly "owing" a mentor for their time or "wisdom," it’s a scam.
- Isolation: The goal of a manipulator is to make them your only source of truth. If you find yourself cutting off people who have known you your whole life because a new "friend" told you to, take a step back.
The survivors of Larry Ray have shown incredible resilience. Their willingness to tell their stories has changed the way we understand coercive control and sex trafficking on college campuses. They aren't just "cult victims"—they are people who fought their way back to reality.
If you suspect someone you know is in a high-control situation, the best thing you can do is maintain a non-judgmental line of communication. Cults thrive on the idea that "the outside world will hate you." Proving that wrong is often the first step toward getting someone out.