Oh, my God.
Yeah, that's college.
That's funny.
I don't even remember what
we were doing in this photo.
It's like I almost
don't recognize us.
It's bittersweet because
it's hard to think of
these times and,
like, enjoy the memory
just because I
know what's coming.
It's like a, I guess, a
sense of impending doom.
It's like, "Oh, that was fun,"
but what comes after
was not so much fun.
For so many of
us and our children,
college is supposed to be
a time of self-discovery
and newfound independence.
A chance to explore and learn
all within the safety
of a college community.
Stunning allegations
against a New York dad.
He's accused of
orchestrating a sex cult
made up of his daughter's
college classmates.
But as the alleged
defendant exploited
that vulnerable time
in these victims' lives
through a course of conduct
that shocks the conscience.
Please...
My God,
it's a nightmare.
Don't!
Today, we
announce criminal charges
against this man, Lawrence Ray,
who for nearly a decade
exploited and abused
young women and men for
his own financial gain.
Remember, you are
the one that has hurt me.
You are the hurter. I am
the victim of your hurt.
Ray sometimes
recorded his victims
to extort hundreds of
thousands of dollars
from their parents'
savings accounts.
Just give
me until Monday.
I mean, I'll get your money.
I'm scared they're
gonna do something to me.
When he was arrested,
one of his daughter's
roommates and one of
the female victims were in
the residence at the time.
Do you
have any comments?
♪ I'm feeling rough ♪
♪ I'm feeling raw ♪
♪ I'm in the time of my life ♪
I can't even.
♪ Let's make some
music, make some money ♪
♪ Find some models for wives ♪
We called it the
Sarah Lawrence bubble.
It feels like its
own little world.
Like, a old, tiny,
like, village.
Things are a little bit
magical and special.
Their slogan
at the time was
"You are different.
So are we."
And they were trying to
attract the kind of students
who were maybe outcasts of
some kind in high school.
The nerds or the artists.
♪ We got the vision,
now let's have some fun ♪
Everyone's
expressing themselves
and dressing how they want
and reciting Shakespeare
and climbing trees.
You know, 18 year
olds starting your new
way in the world, building
your new identity.
You know, having a
chance free of the places
we'd all come from
and the families
we'd all come from to,
like, self-determine.
We
were all seekers.
We were all really
open to possibilities
and actively looking
for new things.
All these people
were so different
and they were so vibrant.
All I wanted to do
was just hang out.
We would get
drunk and dance
pretty much every
afternoon we could.
None of us were good at dancing.
I would say
definitively terrible.
♪ I said
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
One night after
staying up super late,
we were, like,
kind of cuddled up
in sleeping bags together
watching the sunrise.
And we made a joke about how
we're four legs of one animal.
It felt like a little
separate family.
Like a new family.
I think we'd all sort
of had the general idea,
like, we should
all live together.
We'd all been having so
much fun our first year.
It was like, well, let's
just keep doing this.
Slonim Woods, it
was a huge step up.
It's, like, eight people,
everyone gets a single room.
I was at the end
of the hall upstairs.
Next to me was Dan,
Gabe, and Claudia.
Downstairs was Juli Anna,
Santos, Isabella, and Talia.
And Raven was
basically living there.
I mean, she was
around all the time.
I liked being
close to the woods.
You were far enough away
from main campus that
security wouldn't be called
on you for noise complaints.
No one patrolled over there.
It felt like
living in a real house
just with no supervision.
- It was great. I
had a great time.
Just it's hard to try and
think of those memories.
It's like the memories
are, like, pale
because we're talking about
a very different Santos.
You know, with a
completely different path.
Can you tell me
about meeting Talia?
Can you tell me that story?
It was a Roman
literature class.
Egypt, Caesar.
Afterwards, it was,
like, a running joke
'cause she was saying
I smiled at her first,
but I was saying you
smiled at me first.
I was like, hey,
I'm just gonna go
chat to this girl after class.
I'm like, let's, like,
let's go get lunch together.
That seems like
a pretty bold move.
- Yeah, never done
that in my life.
I quickly felt like I could
talk to her about anything.
You know, this was
my first girlfriend.
I felt like, oh, I'm so
lucky 'cause she's beautiful,
she's smart, and
she's, like, awesome.
You know, it's like, what
more could you ask for?
- Talia was not really
like me or my friends.
- Talia had a mission.
She knew exactly what
she wanted to do.
Talia
wanted to be a lawyer.
She wanted to help
people like her dad.
Pretty much the
first and only thing that
she talked about whenever
it was her turn to talk
it was my dad this, my dad that.
And this would
happen, like, at a party?
- Yeah, at like... when
we're trying to have fun.
Like that's when it
started to feel weird.
Santos was the
perfect listener
and she needed to
be listened to.
Talia characterized
her dad as a hero.
He was in some special
military operations.
Parachuting into places.
He was practically James Bond.
- She was talking all about
how her dad was in jail
and how unfair it was
and how he never had
done anything wrong.
Fairly soon
after we moved in,
we started hearing her dad was
getting out of jail finally
and they were gonna be reunited.
I remember Talia being
like, just don't judge him.
He's been in jail.
He's been through a
lot of hard things.
All of his
things had been confiscated.
It didn't seem odd then that
he would crash on our couch.
We were in agreement
that we were gonna be,
um, accommodating, and...
it was gonna be fine.
The image
I have is of him
walking up the stairs
into the living room.
Talia had said, "Hey,
guys, this is my dad."
- He just looked like a dad.
I have the image
in my mind of Talia
jumping into his arms.
Larry's actually not
that big of a guy,
but in my memory,
he's big and she just,
like, vanishes in his arms.
- He talked for hours and
everyone was just transfixed.
Larry talked about
being in the marines.
It was a huge part
of his identity.
He talked about
his time in the CIA
doing psyops against
foreign leaders.
Infiltrating the inner circle
of their, you know, top brass
and messing with their minds.
And he talked about
how he had worked with NATO
to help in the Kosovo crisis.
He says all these
outlandish things
and you're wondering,
did this really happen?
And then he would
pull out this letter
and you're like, okay.
He talked about how
he was Gorbachev's guide
when Gorbachev
came to the U.S.
- And then he would pull out a
picture with him and Gorbachev,
and you're like, what the hell?
- I remember I
didn't really care,
but everyone else was like, wow.
- I thought it was the
coolest thing ever.
- He brought up Bernie
Kerik that night.
He talked about
how there were corrupt
law enforcement who were
working against him.
I Googled.
Kerik is
a former New York City
police commissioner
who was a familiar face
in the days after the
September 11 attacks.
Larry
Ray is the FBI informant
who was once Bernie
Kerik's close friend.
Larry had blown the
whistle on some major scandal.
- Anything I say, I have
documents to support.
And they had gotten
retribution against
him for that.
According to Larry, these
very powerful people
had put him in jail
on trumped up charges.
They had
tried to ruin his life
and now, he could
pick up the pieces
and, like, fight the good fight.
- I don't know if Talia
ever actually sat us down
and was like, "Look, my dad
is going to be staying here
"four out of seven days a week
for an extended
period of time."
It just slowly, like,
snowballed until he was there.
Was it weird
that he was around?
I mean, it sounds stupid,
but mostly I was just
like, oh, you know,
they're like taking up the
living room couches again.
So we, like, can't play
"Super Smash Bros."
And also, just like, so what?
Like, what am I gonna do?
We're not gonna separate
Talia from her dad.
- It was so weird, and also,
everyone's, like, a little
bit stoned all the time.
So like, we're just, like,
am I weird, or is this weird?
And, like, we weren't,
like, really sure.
- He made it seem normal
that he was there.
It just felt like
a fact of life.
Larry was totally
the funny dad of the house.
He had tube socks bunched
up around his ankles.
He'd put on one of
Talia's frilly aprons
to do the dishes.
He actually keeps the kitchen
clean which is a nice change.
He, like, buys us
pizza, cooks us dinner.
He was contributing to our
little household in his way.
You know, when you're
a college student eating
dining hall food and instant
ramen and peanut butter,
a nice home-cooked steak is
a welcome change of pace.
Anyone who would
come in, he'd be like,
"Hey, you want some?
Come, sit down.
Eat with us."
You know, very, like,
gracious approach.
- He did sort of exude
a sense of authority.
Like, oh, like,
you have a problem?
Larry probably has a solution.
He's seen the world. He
can tell you what to do.
One day, Larry spreads
the news to everybody.
House meeting later tonight.
We're all gonna gather
in the living room.
He unveils to
us his philosophy
called Quest for Potential.
Larry told us,
"You have a person that
you're capable of being.
"A true self.
"That person, your potential,
is held back or
restrained or clouded."
He could take away the
things that were in the way,
resolve the confusions,
and untie the knots.
And then you could
just be who you are.
Really what
it translated to was
just like this is
how you have clarity
because you guys don't
have it right now.
And you don't have it right
now because all this, like,
gunk in your head from, like,
your parents and how
you guys grew up.
- He could help identify,
articulate, and then process
repressed memories,
trauma, abuse.
If we went through that process,
we would be healed.
That's what it means
to have clarity.
- As a 19 year old,
it was attractive
because, like, oh,
look, there are answers.
The first person that
Larry started
helping was Isabella.
Talia and Isabella
were best friends.
They were pretty
much inseparable.
She lived in
Slonim Nine with us
and she was effectively
a social recluse.
She hid a lot.
She hid in her room.
She hid behind her hair.
She always had hair just,
like, hanging in her face.
She came from
Texas and had nobody.
You know, and her
one friend, Talia,
her father, who seemed
to be this awesome guy,
took her under his wing.
Somehow, I became aware
of the fact that Larry was
in Isabella's room and
had been for many hours.
According to Santos, she
was going through something
really intense that
was, like, private...
Something about her family,
and Larry was helping her.
I believe he was in her
room, like, overnight,
and the idea was that
they had just been talking
for, like, 12, 16 hours.
- It seemed like there
was a lot of, um...
a lot of bonding happening.
Isabella had been
talking up Talia and her daddy.
What was
your impression?
- That he was a good man.
And then right before
the Christmas break,
the phone rings and
Isabella tells me
that she's not
coming. I said why.
"Well, I'll let you talk
to somebody for me, Mom.
It's Talia's dad."
He said, "Well, I don't
know if you knew this,
but she was molested when
she was, uh, younger."
I said, "What are
you talking about?
I don't... What are
you talking about?"
And he said, "Yeah, and
she's... it's been...
"she's brought it up recently
and she said if she goes
"to San Antonio, she's
gonna k*ll herself.
She can't stand to be alive."
I didn't
know half the things
that he's saying went on.
Who knows if it's true?
But the way he acted like
he cared for Isabella,
I mean, he was gonna help
her because she deserved it
and she was such a good child.
You know, he was very
convincing on the phone.
- I did not have the
money to go up there.
I didn't even
have... what is it?
Talked to her on
the phone barely.
So I proceeded to tell him,
if she's gonna k*ll
herself if she comes home,
of course I don't
want her to come home.
I will tell her she
doesn't have to come here.
All of a sudden,
she became vibrant.
That's the word I remember.
Like, she became vibrant.
She was smiling.
She seemed happy.
She was engaged and, like,
dynamic and interactive
with everyone around.
I mean, I saw him
having this, like,
incredibly positive
effect on a peer,
and that just kind of
reinforced the idea.
Like okay, this is a very good,
helpful person in general.
Like a very special person
who, like, walked into our lives
who could help all of us.
It was one night.
I straight up asked
him if he could talk.
I told him about my family.
Both of my parents are
from Dominican Republic.
I have two older sisters.
I was closer to them
than to my parents
because my mom worked
seven days a week.
My father, he would
be out and about.
The implications
were that my father
is married to my mother, but
he cheats on her regularly.
And is that okay?
I assumed that it's not okay.
That's what I've learned,
that it's not okay.
Like, is there
more I don't know?
That confusion led to me
just feeling depressed
and not understanding why.
I couldn't figure out the
answers to these questions
and then I had no one to ask
because my parents certainly
weren't talking about it.
I really opened up to him
about all this stuff that
felt really heavy
for me at the time.
Larry hit
the nail on the head
for every, single part
of my family dynamics.
- And then he says, "And
then the effect on you
is that you've
become uncertain."
That resonated like
nothing ever before.
- I was like suddenly,
like, jolted awake.
It felt like I
understood myself.
I felt like I understood
my family a lot better.
Here was a kind,
compassionate individual
who made me feel that
he understood me.
I had been in therapy before
and no one had been
able to do that.
Santos' posture changed.
He was puffing
out his chest more
and walking around with his
shoulders back a little.
He idolized Larry
as the type of man
that he could be
or wanted to be.
Strong, is able to provide,
is able to think clearly,
and solve any problem.
At the
beginning, Claudia and I
would, like, joke
about how weird he was.
Why is he here all the time?
Me and Claudia, we
were really close.
She had, like, a messy,
chaotic, artist brain.
Just 'cause of her personality,
she had, like, an inclination
to be like, it's kind of
special and artsy and cool
to be a little
damaged and broken.
Larry fed into that with her.
Over time, he would engage
her in conversations.
I would go downstairs
to get something
and they'd be talking.
And I'd come up, watch
a few shows or a movie,
and come back down and they'd be
in the exact same place talking.
One night we
were all smoking weed.
Normally Claudia would
have participated,
but this time she declined.
She said, "Oh, 'cause
I have schizophrenia
and weed can exacerbate
schizophrenia."
And this was news to all of us.
- I said, "This
is ridiculous now.
"You really got to stop
listening to Larry.
"He doesn't know what
he's talking about.
You're fine."
She was like, "Telling me
that I'm not schizophrenic
is only harmful to
me getting better."
And she just insisted
and she started saying,
ever since I was little
this, and all my life this.
Stuff I'd never
heard her say before.
Everyone at the beginning
thought he was weird,
and then one by one,
he would get them alone,
have these conversations,
and suddenly they're like,
"Oh, he's not so bad,"
to, actually, he's pretty great.
Actually, he's saving my life.
Actually, he's the best thing
that ever happened to me.
Actually, I'll never
not listen to him.
Actually, f*ck you.
I'll never listen to you
if you talk bad about him.
And it happened steeply,
and it shocked me.
A big part of
this process has been
to reconcile
memories and start to
put together a more complete
picture of the past.
So your memory from
that time is incomplete?
I don't know.
Part of it is just, like,
you don't remember things.
And...
but I think it's probably just
that something, like, so big
and so terrible and that's
so completely shifted
the nature and
character of my life
happened so soon after.
It's towards the end of
the year at Sarah Lawrence.
Raven and I had been dating
and our relationship
was very, uh...
tumultuous, didn't
feel very good.
And I was like, I should be
able to just deal with this.
Like, I should be able
to know what to say
or what to do and I don't.
I started
saying to Dan,
"Larry's really been helping
me a lot and Claudia too.
I think he would
make time for you."
It felt kind of exciting.
Like, he might
provide some insight.
So we met for
coffee in the city.
From the beginning, it was
like you'll have a coffee.
And, okay, and then like, this
is the best way to have coffee
is to have a little
half and half in it.
It's like, okay,
because also, like, I felt like
I didn't know what was best.
It's like... he's like,
here is how to be an adult.
And we talked about how
the relationship was going
and how I felt kind
of freaked out.
He said, "You're
exceptionally intelligent
"and you can build
a more complex maze
"in your head than most people.
"Why do you feel so insecure?
Why are you, like,
so... squirrelly?"
I had felt like since puberty
confused about sexuality.
You know, and one of
the things I worry about
is like whether or
not I'm g*y maybe,
and then he said, "Well,
are you attracted to men?"
And I'd be like,
"Well, I mean, no.
I don't know."
He said, "I know for
sure that you're not g*y.
"That worry is
dragging you down,
so just leave it."
And how'd
that make you feel?
- It took the weight off
of me, of my own life.
Like, you don't have to
figure it out anymore.
I'll figure it all out for you.
We had this whole conversation,
and then kind of an
afterthought he said,
"Raven is in your way."
He had me call as we walked.
- I remember saying
something like,
"Oh, are you f*cking Larry now?"
Like, I was... I got really
specific and mean about it.
- I said, "He's like
actually a really helpful guy
"who, like, cares about
all our friends and me.
"So if you don't care
about what he has to say,
then that means you
don't care about me."
- Well, what am I
supposed to say to that?
How am I supposed to respond?
Because it's like, again,
I'm between two big rocks.
Like, I can't say you're right,
I don't care about you,
'cause that's not true.
But I can't just go along with
something that I know is wrong.
That was our last conversation.
We rounded the corner
and there was a
limousine waiting there.
Isabella and Santos
and Talia and Claudia
were all sitting in
this idling limousine.
And I realized
that they had been
sitting, waiting for six hours.
There was no reason
not to get in the limo.
So Dan seemed
enamored by him.
Or what words...
- Yeah.
Would you
use to describe...
- No, that... Enamored
is a good word.
He seemed enamored by him.
- Or enthralled.
Yeah. That's
another good word.
It seemed like he was
developing a friendship.
This worldly man was
really interested
in his-his life and his issues
and what he was struggling with.
And maybe he could
say things to him
that he couldn't
say to his parents.
But that summer, Larry says,
"Oh, you know, he can stay
in my apartment in New York."
Made sense.
'Cause then he wouldn't
have to pay rent
and he could just
save his money."
I didn't feel like he was
gonna be in danger there
or anything like that.
The apartment's
on the 15th floor
of this building on
the Upper East Side.
There's an entryway.
A little, like, foyer.
There's a little
bathroom to your left.
A fairly large living
room with windows.
Very generous of Larry
to let me stay there.
End of sophomore
year, Larry's just like,
"Hey, what are you
doing this summer?
"You want to come
by my apartment
"and help me, like, renovate it?
"I want to paint it
something nice for Talia.
It'll be fun."
I mean, the alternative was
either stay at
home and do nothing
or go hang out with my friends.
And spend time
with my girlfriend.
And Larry is there.
I slowly start
spending more time there.
Then, Claudia, she's
living a few blocks away,
she comes over.
Now, it's me, Dan, Claudia,
Talia, Isabella, and Larry.
It was effectively a sleepover
because everybody was
in the living room
except, like,
Larry and Isabella
were in the bedroom.
And that wasn't weird?
- It was weird.
But the explanation
that Larry provided...
That he said it was like,
"Isabella needs a lot of help
and she's in a very
vulnerable space."
After the past year,
seeing how Isabella changed
and seeing how he
helped me and Claudia,
like, I took his word for it.
Larry convinced everyone
that we should get more
on top of our sh*t.
And it was rooted in
the Marines approach
to taking anyone and making
them their best self.
He put together this
playlist that he insisted
had to be played every morning.
It was our, like,
"Reveille." You know?
And he's, like, waking
us up for boot camp.
♪ You give a gift
to me in my young age ♪
We would
get up at 7:00,
do five of 20 push-ups a week.
Then next week,
do five sets of 30
and then keep going up.
That number
sounds insane.
But then you can
do 400 push-ups.
So you're kind of like,
"Well, it was kind of amazing."
- Yeah, we felt really good.
It was... like, it was great.
♪ Spent my time
there by the shore ♪
Larry believed
that it is biological
and it would make
you feel better
to just, like, embrace
your masculinity
or femininity.
Claudia started to
wear makeup more.
She was more interested
in being feminine
than she had been.
I remember shaving my head.
Brightly-colored polos.
Bright colors meant
that you were secure
in your masculinity.
Yeah.
So I can see
I'm having new experiences
in my 21st year.
- Larry believed
that he was pushing
a kind of progressive viewpoint,
which was that everyone
is incredibly sexual
and wants sex.
And we live in a
puritanical society.
- Another one for you...
- Everything was framed
around how I needed to
build confidence sexually.
Well, Dan... so what
do you say to that, Dan?
- Uh, it's very
nice. I'm very moved.
He asked me if I found
Isabella attractive.
As if the assumption was
that I did, that I must,
because she was so
attractive, according to him.
I didn't want to be mean.
It was kind of like,
"Yeah, sure. Totally. I
don't know." Like, you know?
Dan, you get...
You're gonna blow with her.
Yeah?
This one night,
somehow everyone was gone.
Isabella crept out
of the bedroom.
I was in my boxers,
asleep on the couch.
Uh, we...
I don't know how much
detail I need to go into.
But we... like, we hooked up.
And, you know, there was a
part of me that was like,
"Uh, this is cool
that someone is,
like, randomly performing
a sex act on me, I guess."
Um... it just was so
hard not to feel like
she had been sent out.
What came to pass
soon after that
was that I was, like,
explicitly being enrolled
in this, like, sexual education.
And Larry was my professor.
And, like, Isabella was his TA.
Larry said the best music
for this kind of thing
were these 13th-century
Gregorian chants.
He would be talking about
how it's really important
to tease someone.
So he'd trace his
fingers along her back.
And then, like, you
know, he'd be like,
"Now, you know, you try."
It was like Simon Says.
And she seems to be,
like, moaning in pleasure.
No one's ever reacted,
like, quite this intensely
to anything I've done.
Like... maybe I... Like,
yeah, there's, like,
something to learn
here, you know?
It did grow into, like,
him having sex with her
and me having sex with her,
all three of us together.
But this is where,
like, my brain starts
to, like, lock up
those memories.
But I do remember that
there was part of me
that felt special, you know?
I had been brought into
the, like, royal court.
And I remember the feeling
of leaving the room.
'Cause it wasn't like
I would sleep there.
And I would wonder
what would happen
after I left.
We would go to
school during the day.
And at night, we would go
back to Larry's apartment.
Larry's offered a sense
of, like, community
for me and my friends.
Because Larry was
helping all of us,
that made me think like,
"Hey, I want him to talk
my sister Yalitza too."
She just seemed sad.
- That was, like, the
darkest period of my life
up until that point.
I'd been working
to get to college
since I was 10.
But it wasn't anything
that I thought it would be.
I didn't have any
friends at Columbia.
It was very lonely for me.
I went to the apartment
where Santos and his friends
were staying that summer.
And I saw how in
this small apartment,
all... like, all these
people were, like,
able to live together.
It felt like it
was full of life.
People having conversations
in this corner
and in another corner.
There was music
playing all the time.
It was like, "Whoa,
so much color."
It was fun.
I didn't feel bad
about being depressed
or feeling like-like
something is wrong with me,
um, because everybody
in the group
had something that
they were working on.
It's
pretty dissimilar.
Hey, Larry.
I'm getting
candid video.
Oh.
Lare, it's your ornament.
Oh, okay.
Your disco days.
What do you
mean, disco days?
Disco lives!
Oh, my God. Disco's dead.
I gotta say.
Ooh, I want
to put on Tinkerbell.
♪ Everywhere you go ♪
- She had one of these.
- I remember, like,
I would invite them to hang out
and they just would either flake
or say they were busy.
I wasn't concerned at the time.
I was more just,
like, sad, you know?
I was feeling like,
"Okay, they're moving on.
"You find new friends.
That's a choice
they're making."
I went to the
apartment once.
I was absolutely
weirded out. That was...
I mean, I-I had never seen
anything like that before.
I didn't realize at the
time, before I got there,
but all of my
friends were living
in that apartment with him.
Why were they there
instead of on campus?
Why would they rather
be piled into this
little, cluttered
apartment with this guy?
- Heard it, you
are. - You are.
- You actually are.
- I got you.
We would make jokes.
Say, "Oh, you know,
just all those kids
living in that apartment.
That's weird, huh?"
I mean, it's college.
People spread rumors.
And I just assumed it
couldn't be that bad
because that kind of stuff
doesn't really happen, right?
Leave it to Santos.
I was sure it was
an unhealthy attachment
to a manipulative person
who was using them
for something that
I didn't understand.
And I think that's
what drove me crazy
is I couldn't tell what
he wanted out of it.
I couldn't see what he
was getting out of it.
The state
of the apartment.
It was, like, a
weird combination
of, like, there
was a lot going on
and it felt, like, exciting,
but at the same time,
there was, like,
underlying, like,
"This is, like, not tenable."
It was very cramped.
There's a lot of stuff in there.
- Even though it's disorganized,
we're gonna clean it up.
It'll be a group project.
Larry would tell
us, "I can see it.
"There is a way to perfectly
organize all of this.
I'm just waiting for
you to figure it out."
Okay, so we're gonna
pull this out now.
We would say like,
"Maybe we need to put up
more shelves or
get more bins."
This is the bin
which does not have locks on it.
He would
cut up Adderall.
It was supposed to help
us, like, be more focused
for the rest of the day.
He said he had
to keep us awake
for long periods of time
because when we were
really exhausted,
we were like raw nerves.
And that made it more possible
for him to, like,
help us advance.
He was putting so many
things in the space,
we were bound to
do something wrong.
In the apartment,
there was this set of pans
that just kept getting ruined.
It's, like, hairline scratches.
Larry had
this really big thing
about accountability.
So if you did something wrong,
you had to be honest
and be held accountable
so that you can feel
like a real person
in the real world
and have, like, an
actual, like, decent life.
It would be like, "Why
did you damage the stuff?"
Like, and I would
say, "I didn't."
Given his skills
and experience and knowledge,
it's like, "Wait, if
he's asking me about it
then there must
be basis for it."
Except I don't
remember doing it.
- And then I'd be
like, "I don't...
I don't really remember."
He'd be like, "You remember.
Think about it."
The entire time,
Larry gave me no
reason to question him
or doubt his good intentions
towards me and the rest of us.
So if he says that I did
it, then I must have done it
and I just don't
want to remember.
So I'm just gonna try and
think about what happened
and just say it as
soon as I think of it.
- Maybe this is what it means
to, like, access a
repressed memory.
If someone's helping
you, I mean, it's like,
"There it is."
I'm wondering if it's true
and I'm thinking like,
"Is this true?" And,
like, there's the doubt.
But then I would, like, say
it and Larry would accept it.
And it'd be like,
"Okay, Larry is
"the arbiter of truth.
Like, if he accepts
it, it must be true."
Then he
leaves it at that.
A pat on the back.
"You did great.
"Good thing that you're,
like, being honest
and straightforward
and, like, forthcoming."
Do I need to get...
Do I need to come in
and fix this situation?
Over time,
Larry got obsessed
with woodworking.
You guys put
that saw back yet?
He started filling the
apartment with tools.
It just accrued.
And there'd be bigger
and bigger tools.
And then the 1,000
pound band saw
that I cannot
remember how that...
We got away with getting
that into the apartment.
I'll flip this
thing over by myself.
Got it? Yeah.
You guys are
embarrassing, man.
See how easy it is, gentlemen?
Every
item is precious.
It's either really expensive
or, like, really high quality.
It felt kind of
like Santos had committed
the sin of dating
Larry's daughter.
He would be the first
one sort of accused.
- He was not happy
with any of the answers
that I gave him.
So he just, like, cranked it up.
I remember
at that point, like,
not knowing what was
true and what was not.
Like, I had completely lost,
like, uh... like, a compass.
- It's like everybody
else is silent
as, like, Larry is doing it.
Unless he, like, prompts
people to be, like,
"What do you think about that?"
Like, "That's messed up."
Or like, "What's
wrong with you?"
Isabella would back
up anything Larry said.
- Talia would jump in
whenever she was around.
- She and Isabella were, like,
the "safe ones" with Larry.
Like, they ne... sh...
They never had to worry.
And everyone's,
like, staring at you
and telling you to,
"Come clean. Come clean.
Come clean."
- This is a list
that Santos made...
Of all of the things that
he supposedly damaged.
This, like, poor guy.
f*ck' hell.
I would
spend several hours
and I would email it to him.
I would be like, "Hey
Larry, here's the list."
He's like, "Santos,
just make sure
"that that list is complete.
Are you being forthcoming?
I don't feel like you're
being forthcoming."
And I'd be like, "Oh, God, I
must not be being forthcoming
"if that's what he's saying.
Let me go back and
revise the list."
At a... At
a certain point,
I literally... on that
list of the supposed stuff
that I damaged of his,
I literally put down every
single item in that apartment
that I could have conceivably
come into contact with
and I said that I damaged it.
I was so desperate to,
like, do the right thing
that I clung onto the
idea, like, "Okay, if I...
"if I can replace the
stuff that I damaged,
then I'll be okay and
I can move past this."
But then how do I
know what to replace?
I look at my list. And
what's on the list?
A ridiculous number of items
with a ridiculous
ending price tag.
And then that's when I started
asking my parents for money.
$750.
At a certain
point, he was like,
"You don't really
want to pay this back.
"Like, who are you
asking to help you?
Just your parents? They
don't want to help you."
So I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna ask
everybody that I know."
Get a call
from Santos which
puzzled me because I hadn't
talked to him in months.
He told me he needed $5,000.
But my suspicion was
that it involved Larry.
And so I... I, you know,
politely refused the money.
- Santos called
me out of the blue
and he asked for either
$2,500 or $25,000
as a loan.
And, like...
I was working at,
like, a drugstore.
I didn't have $25,000.
He never talked to
me again after that.
I did believe
and said to multiple
people on campus
"I think there's something
very inappropriate
"happening with Larry Ray,
and I'm worried
about my friends."
I said that to a lot of people.
Probably not in those words,
but I expressed that. Often.
What words do
you think you used?
Um, "He's a pervert and a sicko.
And something f*cked up
is going on in there."
I was worried about
my friends at that point.
I had no idea what was going on.
And then we all got
this email from Claudia
with the subject
line "The Truth."
It was addressed to
the dean of students,
but it was an open letter.
She CC'd it to everyone
who lived in the house.
And Larry.
It was just kind
of out of the blue,
very out of character for her.
It's
basically her...
Confessing to...
I... you know, so much of this,
when I got this email, was...
It was just like...
It was an
email taking back
numerous slanderous allegations
she had supposedly
made against Larry.
But I had no idea
about any of the allegations
in the first place.
When you
try to read it,
it doesn't make any sense.
She never said this
stuff to anybody.
If you look at the words,
these are Larry words.
It's Larry's attempt to undo
what I was saying
all around campus.
I mean, who writes
an open letter to the dean
and CC's their entire dorm?
The fact that one
of their students
would send an email like this
should have absolutely
raised alarm bells.
They didn't even
reach out to us.
They didn't ask any questions.
I mean,
I was shocked
and really confused,
and frankly just thought
Claudia had gone
off the deep end.
I tried to get
in contact with her.
I got no response
until all of a
sudden she called me.
Out of the blue.
- That was when I think I
would have first started
using the word "cult" to
talk about what was going on.
- I talked about it a
lot, especially to Max.
I would say, "Do you
think this is happening?"
"Do you think he's
abusing them?"
"Do you think that
they're okay?"
Like, I had a lot of theories
about what could be going on.
But none of them
were as elaborate
or horrible as what
was actually to come.
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