Lawrence Ray, "an evil man who did evil things," found guilty of exploiting daughters' friends at Sarah Lawrence College
NEW YORK - The man accused of exploiting his daughter's college friends for money and sex has been found guilty of sex abuse and forced labor charges.
As CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reports, 62-year-old Lawrence Ray moved into his daughter's dorm at Sarah Lawrence College back in 2010. In the years that followed, he surrounded himself with a group of students and began years of degrading and manipulative behavior towards them.
Ray was eventually charged with 15 counts of extortion, sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy. Wednesday, he was found guilty on all charges.
A jury found Ray preyed upon young and vulnerable students at Sarah Lawrence, a private liberal arts school in Bronxville. Ray is said to have psychologically manipulated his victims.
While living on the campus, he spun bizarre tales, gaining trust and sympathy, eventually controlling aspects of their lives physically, emotionally and financially, extorting millions of dollars from students and their families.
Prosecutors say he forced a young woman into prostitution, and threatened others with physical violence.
Audio recordings of some of the abuse was played in court.
In making their case, prosecutor's used journal entries, email messages and confessions written by students, and presented articles on cult memberships found on Ray's hard drive.
Victims testified in court about the deeply disturbing experiences they were forced to endure.
In a statement put out this afternoon, U. S. Attorney Damian Williams said he was in awe of their bravery in the face of incredible trauma.
"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," Wiliams said.
Ray's lawyers argued his followers were well-educated from privileged backgrounds, that they followed him voluntarily and could come and go as they pleased. The jury didn't buy it.
"Does this verdict surprise you?" CBS2's Dick Brennan asked criminal defense attorney David Schwartz.
"Oh, not at all. This defendant was the master manipulator," Schwartz said.
The legal expert says with four of his former followers testifying against Ray, this was not a tough case for the jury, which deliberated only about four hours.
"Cases where you have so many victims and so many victims able to come forward and testify, and testify about the horror that they went through, that is why there was a verdict so quickly in this case," Schwartz said.
Ray is scheduled for sentencing in September. He faces the possibility of life in prison on his sex trafficking conviction and decades behind bars on the other counts. An accused co-conspirator will be tried separately.
