The Lifetime movie follows Ray's nearly 10-year wake of destruction from Sarah Lawrence College in New York to a home in North Carolina.
June 23, 2024 Lawrence "Larry" Ray has been at the center of journalistic reports and documentaries exposing how he was able to move into his daughter's dorm room and start a cult-like group for nearly a decade. And now, he's the subject of a Lifetime movie. "Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story," airing June 23 at 8 p.m., stars Billy Zane as Ray, and follows the true story of his wake of destruction at Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester County, New York, and beyond. "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence," the first article about Ray, was published in The Cut in 2019, and detailed how he was able to gain the trust of some of his daughter's friends and roommates, and began abusing and manipulating them for almost 10 years. In 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced nine charges had been filed against Ray, including extortion, sex trafficking and forced labor. He was convicted of all the charges against him in 2022.
"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," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after Ray was convicted in 2022.
"He exploited them. He terrorized them. He tortured them. Let me be very clear. Larry Ray is a predator," Williams added. "An evil man who did evil things. Today's verdict finally brings him to justice."
Here's what to know about Ray's case, and where he is now.
Who were Larry Ray’s victims?
Larry Ray
Geoffrey Berman, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced an indictment against Ray on Feb. 11, 2020.Stephanie Keith / AP
Prosecutors alleged in a 2020 indictment that Ray moved into his daughter's on-campus housing during her sophom*ore year at Sarah Lawrence in 2010. After moving in, Ray began conducting "therapy" sessions and presented himself as a father figure to his daughter's roommates, prosecutors wrote.
During the sessions, Ray learned intimate details about their private lives, including their mental health struggles, according to the indictment. After "gaining their trust," Ray would subject victims to "interrogation sessions that typically involved verbal and physical abuse," the indictment stated.
Ray would demand false confessions from his victims through tactics like "sleep deprivation, psychological and sexual humiliation, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, physical violence and threats of criminal legal action," the indictment stated.
In at least two instances, Ray threatened his victims with a knife, according to the indictment, and in a separate incident, he grabbed a male victim by the throat until he was unconscious, according to the indictment.
In the summer of 2011, some of the roommates lived with Ray in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City, and introduced him to several other victims, according to the indictment.
For almost 10 years, Ray abused the group and forced at least five students to send him a total of about $1 million, and later laundered those criminal proceeds, according to the indictment.
Ray also subjected one female victim to sex trafficking, and forced her and two other female victims to work on a family member's property in North Carolina without pay, according to the indictment.
What was Larry Ray’s sentence?
In 2023, Ray was sentenced to 60 years in prison, according to NBC News. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $2.4 million.
At the sentencing hearing, Manhattan federal court judge Lewis J. Liman called Ray's crimes “particularly heinous,” NBC News reported.
Williams, the U.S. attorney, said Ray was a “monster” in a statement issued after his sentencing.
“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,” Williams said.
“Through physical and psychological abuse, he took control over his victims’ minds and bodies and then extracted millions of dollars from them. The sentence imposed today will ensure Ray will never harm victims again.”
Where is Larry Ray now?
Ray, now 64, is currently serving his sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary McCreary in Pine Knot, Kentucky, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
His release date is currently scheduled for March 29, 2071, according to the bureau
https://www.today.com/popculture/movies/larry-ray-now-true-story-rcna157501
