Sarah Lawrence sex cult dad ‘suffers seizure’ on day two of trial

The Sarah Lawrence sex cult father accused of trafficking his daughter and her friends was removed from court on a gurney on Tuesday, the second day of his trial. 

Lawrence ‘Larry’ Ray was removed from the Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday afternoon after collapsing inside. He is now in the hospital.    

Ray, 60, has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts ,including sex-trafficking, extortion, money laundering, violent crime in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy and forced labor in a bizarre case that dates back more than a decade. 

Santos testified about the diaper incident after a prosecutor brought it up, asking the witness what happened between him and Ray before he escaped from the cult in 2015.

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Witness Santos Rosario (left) has testified at the federal sex-trafficking trial of suspected sex cult leader Lawrence Ray (right). Santos is pictured on the witness stand on March 11

Santos claimed that on one occasion, Ray had his ‘lieutenant’ put diapers on him and one of his sisters because they were behaving like children

Santos was introduced to Ray in 2010 by his daughter, Talia (left), whom he was dating at the time

Ray, 60, is facing charges of sex-trafficking, extortion, money laundering, violent crime in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy and forced labor

‘I don’t remember the context or what we were being blamed for this time. But Larry said that me and my sister were supposedly acting like children and he had Isabella put diapers on us,’ Santos said, referring to Ray’s alleged ‘lieutenant’ and co-conspirator, Isabella Pollok, reported the New York Post.

Santos said Ray forced him and sister Felicia to sit in his apartment on the Upper East Side in Manhattan wearing nothing but the diapers.

‘We just waited there until Larry said we could take them off.’ Santos told the court, as the New York Daily News reported. 

After that incident, Rosario left the cult, in which he had been a member for five years, and moved into a homeless shelter, rather than continue to be subjected to Ray’s increasingly terrifying ‘interrogations.’

‘I couldn’t take it anymore,’ Santos said of the alleged abuse. ‘These interrogations with Larry started getting scarier and longer. And I couldn’t articulate at the time but I was terrified to be there. So I just looked for an opportunity to run away.’

Santos is pictured with Ray’s daughter, Talia, in this photo that has been introduced into evidence by the prosecution 

An exhibit seen in court shows Santos’ face after he repeatedly slapped himself on Ray’s orders

Santos (left) alleged that on three occasions, Ray made him have sex with his ‘lieutenant,’ Isabelle Pollok (right)

Santos also claimed that one time, Ray forced Claudia Drury (pictured) to perform a sex act on him while the alleged cult leader sat nearby and watched 

Santos was introduced to Ray in 2010 by his daughter, Talia, whom he was dating at the time. Before long, he found himself under Ray’s control, along with his two sisters.

Santos testified that Ray struck him with a hammer, held a knife to his genitals, urged him to commit suicide, and called him ‘scum’ and ‘trash.’

Prosecutors played a video for the jury that showed Santos repeatedly slapping himself in the face at Ray’s direction. 

The suspected sex cult leader also allegedly accused Santos of poisoning him and damaging his property as part of a plot to extort money out of the younger man.

Ray is facing charges for allegedly forcing one of his followers, Sarah Lawrence student Claudia Drury, into prostitution to enrich himself to the tune of $2million.  

Santos testified on Monday that on one occasion, when he accompanied Ray to a hotel to collect money that Drury had earned from the sex work, the accused cult leader made the woman perform a sex act on Santos while he sat next to them and watched.

Ray waves to his father in the front row before taking his seat at the defense table during the trial last week

‘He told Claudia to give me a b***job and for me to take off my pants,’ Santos testified. 

On three separate occasion, Santos told the court that Ray also made him have sex with his aide, Pollock.

On cross-examination, the defense sought to portray Santos as an unreliable witness by dredging up his history of mental health struggles.

Santos said that after leaving the cult in 2015, he kept his distance from Ray for four years, until in 2019, when he was contacted by journalists from New York magazine who were working on a story about the sex cult.

Ray is accused of 17 counts including sex-trafficking, extortion, money laundering, violent crime in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy

Santos said he reached out to Ray to talk about the article and ended up falling under his influence again.

In 2010, Ray – real name Lawrence Grecco – moved into his daughter Talia’s dorm room at college just north of New York City.

Fresh out of jail following charges related to a custody battle with his ex-wife, Ray slept on a dorm room couch and, prosecutors allege, set about dominating the lives of a group of his daughter’s friends.  

Assistant US Attorney Lindsey Keenan began her opening statement last week with a description of a gruesome October 2018 alleged attack.

Keenan said Ray and another woman who served as his ‘trusted lieutenant’ found the victim they had ‘forced into a life of prostitution’ at a hotel, where Ray tortured her for hours to make sure she’d continue her sex work.  

The prosecutor said Ray used ‘violence, fear, sex and manipulation’ to gain sex, power and money. 

Ray’s lawyer told the jury that Ray committed no federal crimes as he encircled himself with college-age ‘storytellers’ who claimed to have poisoned him and arranged to have him physically attacked.

‘You’ll see that Larry Ray is not guilty,’ attorney Allegra Glashausser said.

Ray, who once served as the best man at a wedding of former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, has been incarcerated since his 2020 arrest.