Polloks attorneys accused Ray of gradually coercing their client until he ultimately exercised complete control over her. They insisted shed been brainwashed by Ray. . Daughter Talia Ray had introduced Pollok and her other roommates to him after his release from prison on unrelated child custody charges. Ray was arrested in February 2020 and in April 2022, following a four-week trial, he was convicted on several counts including sex trafficking, extortion and forced labor. An adult woman, yes, but an adult woman without the ability to think for herself, she said. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Instead, on September 7, 2022, Isabella changed her plea from not guilty to guilty to a single count of conspiracy to launder money by admitting she took part in transactions involving extorted funds. One such person is Isabella Pollok, one of the students who encountered Ray and became his alleged "lieutenant" in a "cult" he made at Sarah Lawrence. Attorneys for Pollok urged Liman to impose a non-prison sentence, arguing she was groomed and tortured by Ray during her time under his control. All rights reserved. Pollok was half Rays age when they met at Sarah Lawrence. Isabella Pollok was Larry Ray 's daughter's best friend. Over the next two years, Pollok underwent psychological evaluations, changed attorneys, met with therapists, worked a steady job, and found a boyfriend. Isabella Pollok, one of the Sarah Lawrence students who fell under the influence of Mr. Ray, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money, after being accused by prosecutors of serving as the man . According to BBC, he was found guilty of all 15 counts of racketeering, violent assault, extortion, sex trafficking, . Culture Interview True Crime TV Hulu. On that evening, Pollok had been recording Ray as he stripped Drury naked, tied her to a chair, doused her with water and tried suffocating her with a plastic bag. I deeply regret it. I will live with the guilt forever I am ashamed. I will live with the guilt forever. Then, in August of last year, she agreed to a plea deal. Felicia Rosario, Daniel Barban Levin and Isabella Pollok in "Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence." The director met Felicia Rosario and Pollok shortly after Levin, and when Ray's trial . The former VP has an extremely narrow path to viability in 2024. Polloks defense team said. Prosecutors had previously painted Pollok as someone who held a "privileged position within the Ray Family, acting as Ray's lieutenant, with respect to his extortionate demands for financial payments, physical labor, and prostitution, and in laundering the criminal proceeds of extortion and sex trafficking through bank accounts and GoDaddy," per sentencing documentscited by PEOPLE. What is happening on TikTok on March 3rd 2023? Last month, a federal judge sentenced Ray to 60 years in prison for psychologically, sexually, and physically abusing this young cohort of devotees he met after moving into his daughters dorm at Sarah Lawrence College. In March 2021, Pollok was charged with racketeering, extortion and sex trafficking conspiracies, to which she pleaded not guilty at the time. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Cynthia Pollok shared that she tried to take Isabella Pollock away from Lawrence "Larry" Ray. I am truly sorry.. Per the New York Post, on Sept. 7, 2022, Isabella pled guilty to one conspiracy count, which looks like the result of a plea deal. Emailus. She said: "I'm 19, I was having a lot of difficulty making sense of things, I wasn't in a good place. I'm now asking for a second chance.". I did what they said I did.. Judge Liman imposed real consequences on Isabella Pollok for acting as Larry Rays enforcer during his reign of terror, Epner told Law&Crime. Larry Rays only co-conspirator to be charged and convicted in the Sarah Lawrence College sex cult case was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on Wednesday after tearfully telling the court that the guru controlled her beyond comprehension. I deeply regret it. Prosecutors had asked Liman to sentence Pollok to a maximum of 60 months in prison, but acknowledged in a sentencing submission that she was also a victim of Ray. Isabella Pollok, the former best friend of daughter Talia Ray, was a young student when Larry Ray started living in her communal dorm Slonim Woods 9 and sleeping in her room. Ray then became her lover and convinced her of the need to explore her sexuality, the defense attorneys wrote. He lured them off campus to a New York City apartment and collected those supposed debts through physical violence, psychological abuse and sexual exploitation for roughly a decade. At the sentencing Wednesday, Assistant US Attorney Lindsey Keenan said Pollok acted with initiative and out of her own volition while aiding Ray. She could receive up to five years in federal prison. This story has been shared 126,899 times. Pollok exercised agency, Keenan argued. The former Sarah Lawrence College student pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy in September. She had hoped to change that next month, when Isabella's trial was set to start. In case youve been out of the loop, Isabella pleaded guilty on Sept. 5, 2022, to one count of conspiracy of laundering money, in connection to Rays crimes of extortion, money laundering, sex trafficking, and more. "The Government does not dispute that the defendant also suffered at Ray's hands," prosecutors said in a separate letter to a federal judge. Both Pollok and her mother maintain the student was one of Rays many victims through manipulation. Emily Kohrs didnt do anything wrong, and the medias harsh treatment of the Fulton County foreperson was a gift to Trumps lawyers. But he said that, but for Pollok, this scheme would not have succeeded the way that it did.. But, they added, Pollok grew close to Ray as he exerted tyrannical control over a group of college students and other young people and exploited her position to insulate her from the worst of his abuse. Santos Rosario and his siblings had a turbulent family life. The government knows of no instance when Ms. Pollok was threatened with exposure of collateral, Keenan said. Isabella Pollok must report to prison by April 25 to begin serving a 4 1/2-year sentence that U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman said resulted from her failure to rebel against Lawrence Ray's . After the jury found Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son, he was given two consecutive life sentences. She did not comment as she left court Wednesday. When I started at Sarah Lawrence College in 2009, I saw it as opportunity to escape all the hardships in my life, Pollok wrote to the three Assistant U.S. Just about anyone who read our 2019 cover story, or followed coverage of Rays trial, or watched Stolen Youth, the new Hulu documentary in which Pollok participated, could see that Pollok was utterly brainwashed by Ray. You had a choice here., I badly hurt my friends and I am ashamed and deeply regret it, Pollok said in a brief, tearful statement to the court. Its all about not looking soft on crime. Here is everything that viewers need to know about Pollok and where she is now. According to reports, Isabella once forced a brother-sister duo to wear diapers around her partners Manhattan apartment, and she further had a hand in inflicting other forms of torture on different victims. Have a tip or story idea? Pollok now faces a maximum five-year sentence and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the financial gain of her conspiracy. Pollok wept at her reflections of those actions at her sentencing. I did want to [go to the trial to] see her in person because I havent seen her in at least 10 years I havent talked to her in at least seven., Cynthia continued, Isabella finally started to realize that being in Larrys corner is not going to help her. Isabella Pollok and Larry Ray pictured in stills from "Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence." A U.S. District Court judge handed down the sentence to Isabella Pollok, 31, in a Manhattan federal courtroom on Thursday afternoon. . Isabella Pollok, a victim of Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader Larry Ray who later conspired with the fiend as he carried out abuse of a group of young people, will face sentencing in. Lawrences hold over me changed who I was and it continues to be a healing process. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Prosecutors had previously painted Pollok as someone who held a "privileged position within the Ray Family, acting as Ray's lieutenant, with respect to his extortionate demands for financial payments, physical labor, and prostitution, and in laundering the criminal proceeds of extortion and sex trafficking through bank accounts and GoDaddy," per. Interestingly, Cynthia also shared that she had been planning to see her daughter, whom she hasnt seen in over a decade. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Documents obtained by Law And Crime claim that Pollock was indicted in Rays case around January 2021 on charges of knowingly committing extortion together through wrongful use of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear.. Pollok also wrote letters to the judge and prosecutors in her case. Ray later began having "interrogation" sessions with the students, manipulating them into making false confessions such as trying to poison him. At least one of Rays victims does. Hulu's 'Stolen Youth' Details a Cult at Sarah Lawrence College Where Is the Man Behind It? A woman who referred to herself as Sarah Lawrence 'cult leader' Larry Ray's 'wife' and lived with him and his co-accused, 'lieutenant' Isabella Pollok, has told jurors how her 'romantic . The government sees Pollok as Rays lieutenant, but Polloks lawyers see her as his once-brainwashed victim. Attorneys Danielle Sassoon, Mollie Bracewell, and Lindsey Keenan are in charge of the prosecution. Hundreds of people violently detained during a protest in the Bronx could receive $21,500 each. Isabella Pollok (31) omtales som lytnant i Lawrence Larry Rays voldelige skole-kult. Nowhere is the lab-leak debate more personal than among the experts investigating the origins of COVID. Previously a reporter for Courthouse News, he has appeared as a guest on NewsNation, NBC, MSNBC, CBS's "Inside Edition," BBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and other networks. "Ray groomed Isabella, at first by listening and paying attention to her," Polloks attorneys wrote. Isabella did whatever Ray directed, they added. It involved extreme and sadistic violence and it was sophisticated, Liman added. . When Larry Ray first came into the lives of his daughter Talia's college friends in 2010 he presented himself as a confidant, someone who could be trusted . He was also said to have extorted money from their families and made some of them take part in forced labor and prostitution. Hulus new three-part docuseries, Stolen Youth, investigates the crimes of Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader Larry Ray. All Rights Reserved. Isabella Pollok and Larry Ray (Photos via DOJ). 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Parents and patients are now refuting her key claims. And now there is the Isabella who is before Your Honor prepared to be sentenced. The Californians have been booted from Frogmore Cottage because the king (or the character invented by the U.K. press) has had enough of their abuse. There is the broken automaton. Lawrence convinced me that Claudia, Santos, Yali, Felicia and Dan poisoned me and were constantly trying to hurt me, just as he convinced them that they were doing these things.. Thanks for contacting us. These acts were committed because she was brainwashed by Ray, he said. The state has a near-total abortion ban, and now activists and GOP officials are fighting an exemption for physician-defined medical emergencies. . Story . A U.S. District Court judge handed down the sentence to. Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence is streaming now on Hulu. She had problems that he could help her talk through. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. : Spooky Friday 13 true crime stories thatll keep you up at night. It's the place where her step-grandfather Gordon Ray resides and the place she'd first started calling home around 2014 after landing a job at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines. You were not the leader of the Ray enterprise, Liman continued, noting that she was a young adult at the times but by no means innocent.. At first, what Larry Ray gave the Slonim 9 . To date in the saga of convicted sex trafficker Larry Ray, federal prosecutors charged only one person as his co-conspirator and referred to her as his lieutenant: Isabella Pollok, his daughters best friend. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Rays manipulation of Isabella was different in kind from the other student-victims because among other things he had made her his lover, Polloks lawyers wrote. Jamie Reeds shocking account of a clinic mistreating children went viral. Executive Producers Of Peacocks Sex, Lies And The College Cult On Sarah Lawrence Cult Leader Larry Ray, A co-conspirator of cult sex trafficker. Now, survivors tell their stories, This is insane: Viewers disturbed by new true-crime show Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence, Cult leader Larry Ray sentenced after sex trafficking and racketeering conviction, Sarah Lawrence sex cult member sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands.