Hulu’s new documentary series Stolen Youth: Inside Sarah Lawrence’s Cult Brings the story of Larry Ray’s manipulation and exploitation of Sarah Lawrence’s group of students to the small screen.
This story was revealed in 2019 new york magazine Feature article(opens in new tab) An FBI investigation led to Ray being found guilty(opens in new tab) Last month, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for sex trafficking, extortion, conspiracy and forced labor. This three-part documentary series of his features a first-hand account of Ray’s abuse over a decade. Here’s the truth behind the documentary.
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Who are the victims?
Ray first met a group of sophomores at Sarah Lawrence College through her daughter Talia, a student at New York’s Liberal Arts College. After being released from prison in the fall of 2010, Ray moved into Talia’s dormitory and integrated into the lives of her friends, earning their trust through the “therapy sessions” he conducted. Ray’s victims included Talia’s boyfriend at the time and his roommates Santos Rosario, Daniel Levin, Isabella Pollock and Claudia Drury. Rosario then introduced Ray to his sisters Felicia Rosario and Yalitza Rosario, who were also influenced by him.
After becoming best friends with the youngsters, he persuaded Talia and her friends to move into a one-bedroom apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, and his relationship with the students escalated. He mentally and physically tortured them, coerced them into confessing to crimes they did not commit through sleep deprivation, verbal abuse, and sexual humiliation, and extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from them and their families. . He coerced one young woman into sex work and pocketed the hundreds of thousands of dollars she earned.
Who is Larry Ray?
Ray’s sphere of influence and expert manipulation extended beyond Sarah Lawrence’s students. Before getting involved with them, the Brooklyn native befriended former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerrick, which led to his role as an FBI informant in a pump-and-dump stock scheme run by a Gambino family capo.
“Larry Ray is a psychotic con man who has sacrificed every friend he’s ever had. It’s been nearly 20 years since we last heard from him and his reign of terror continues.” said Kerrick. new york magazine article.
The FBI reports that Ray was an unreliable informant and may have actually used that role to cover up his own complicity in Gambino’s stock fraud scheme. In 2000, he was indicted for involvement in the scheme and sentenced to five years’ probation. By 2007, Ray was serving time again for a child custody battle, and prosecutors claimed this was a violation of his parole. That was when I was released from that charge.
Where are you?
according to new york magazine, it was Levin who first summarized that Roy’s treatment of the group was a hallmark of the cult. By 2016, Yalitza and Levin had escaped Roy’s control, while others remained under Roy’s control until his arrest in 2020. What began as a normal college life ended in unimaginable horror for this group of students.
