Guilty Verdict For NJ Dad Who Led Sex Ring From Daughter's Dorm

New Brunswick NJ

07 April, 2022

11:27 AM

Description

PISCATAWAY, NJ — A Piscataway father who prosecutors say ran a sex cult out of his daughter's dorm room was convicted in federal court Wednesday of multiple crimes, including sex trafficking, forced labor and violent assault. The Piscataway dad is Larry Ray, 62. Ray, who up until now lived in Piscataway, is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Ray was also known as Larry Grecco. He is facing up to life in prison, but his sentencing has not been determined yet. It was this article that first ran in New York Magazine that prompted the FBI to start investigating Ray's sordid activities on his daughter's college campus. A grand jury reached their unanimous guilty verdict Wednesday, after less than a day of deliberations. The New York City trial lasted four weeks and the jury found Ray guilty of every count presented by federal prosecutors: He was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, tax evasion and money laundering. "Twelve years ago, Larry Ray moved into his daughter's dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College. And when he got there, he met a group of friends who had their whole lives ahead of them," said U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District Damian Williams, in announcing the guilty verdict. "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. Today's verdict finally brings him to justice." Federal prosecutors say that in 2010, Ray moved into his daughter's dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts college in Bronxville, New York. Federal authorities said he presented himself as a "father figure" and targeted his daughter's friends, both male and female roommates. For ten years, from 2010 to 2020, prosecutors say Ray subjected the group of college students and other young people to sexual and psychological manipulation and physical abuse. Ray lived with some of the victims in the college dorm and afterwards they all lived together in an Upper East Side apartment, according to court documents. His tactics included sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, physical violence, threats of criminal legal action, alienating the victims from their families and exploiting the victims' mental health vulnerabilities. Through this manipulation, Ray would extract false confessions from his victims — all young people in their 20s, mostly women — and then extort money from them. The young women made payments to Ray by draining their parents' savings, opening credit lines, soliciting contributions from acquaintances and selling real estate ownership. They would even, at Ray's direction, performing unpaid labor for Ray and earn money for him through prostitution. "Through fear, violence and coercion, Ray forced one female victim to engage in commercial sex acts to pay damages to Ray that she did not actually owe," wrote U.S. Attorneys in this press release announced his guilty sentence. "Beginning when she was just a college student, Ray sexually groomed this victim, and collected sexually explicit photographs and other personal information, which he then used to coerce her into continued commercial sex acts." "Ray also used physical violence: On one occasion, Ray tied his victim to a chair, placed a plastic bag over her head and nearly suffocated her," federal prosecutors continued. "Ray collected millions of dollars in forced prostitution proceeds from this victim." In addition, Ray forced three of the young women to perform unpaid labor on a family member's property in North Carolina. Through a course of psychological and physical abuse, Ray forced these victims to do extensive physical labor, sometimes in the middle of the night, for no pay. Prosecutors say Ray shared the money the young women paid him with two others, and then laundered his criminal proceeds through an internet domain business and evaded paying taxes. U.S. Attorneys said Wednesday's fast guilty verdict would not have been possible if this case had not been exhaustively investigated by the FBI, praising their "outstanding investigative work." Williams also praised the young women and men — the college students who Ray manipulated — for testifying. "This verdict would not have been possible without the victims who testified in court. We are in awe of their bravery in the face of incredible trauma," he said. "I also want to thank the career prosecutors in my office, the Southern District of New York, and our law enforcement partners, who stood with those victims and worked tirelessly to ensure that justice was done." Get great local news. Sign up for Patch: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: [email protected]