‘Monster’ Ran New York Sex Cult, Abused Students in Hudson Valley

After getting out of prison a father "used violence, threats, and psychological abuse" to run a sex trafficking ring out of his daughter's classmates in the Lower Hudson Valley.

On Friday, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Lawrence Ray, AKA Lawrence Grecco, 63, of Piscataway, New Jersey, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, tax evasion and money laundering offenses.

Lawrence Ray Sentenced For Years-Long Predatory Crimes Against Students At Sarah Lawrence College And Others

At the sentencing today, Judge Liman underscored “the resiliency of the human spirit and the courage of the victims.”

In April, Ray was convicted in federal court for racketeering conspiracy, a violent crime in aid of racketeering, extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, tax evasion, and money laundering offenses.

“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. 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," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

According to the allegations in the Indictment:

Sarah Lawrence College

In 2010, Ray was released from prison and moved into his daughter's dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester County. He then began targeting her daughter's college friends, officials say.

Ray used physical and psychological threats and coercion to indoctrinate and exploit a group of college students in Westchester County as well as other victims.

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Ray extorted approximately $1 million from at least five victims; forced certain victims to perform unpaid labor; and caused, through force, fraud, and coercion, at least one victim to engage in commercial sex acts, officials say.

He laundered the proceeds of his crimes through an internet domain business. Ray committed the alleged offenses in locations including Westchester County, across New York State, and North Carolina.

“Larry Ray is a monster. For years, he inflicted brutal and lifelong harm on innocent victims. Students who had their lives ahead of them. He groomed them and abused them into submission for his own gain. Through physical and psychological abuse, he took control over his victims’ minds and bodies and then extracted millions of dollars from them," Williams added.

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Ray was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $2,444,349, the proceeds from the sale of his GoDaddy portfolio, and the North Carolina home where the forced labor took place.