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Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Felicia Rosario, Former Sarah Lawrence Sex-Cult Member, Has Taken Her Life Back. 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. I am truly sorry.. In the hearing, the Sarah Lawrence student admitted she knew her activities were wrong, which included recording the abuse Ray inflicted on Claudia Drury in the fall of 2018. 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. She told the judge that she helped Ray disguise money that she knew came from illegal activities, namely the $2.5 million in sex trafficking proceeds of his victim Claudia Drury. Pollok grew close to Ray as he exterted control over the students, and had been both a victim and lieutenant of his offending, prosecutors said. She said: "I'm 19, I was having a lot of difficulty making sense of things, I wasn't in a good place. Most importantly, though, per the federal prosecutors, she helped Larry channel $2.5 million from her once-roommate and friend. She could receive up to five years in federal prison. Larry Ray has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for using manipulation to extort millions from his victims. And now there is the Isabella who is before Your Honor prepared to be sentenced. Sarah Lawrence College student, Isabella Pollok, admitted to collaborating with convicted criminal Larry Ray during his 10 years of heinous crimes, so what sentence does she face now? His reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" I do not blame her for any of this, any of what happened, or even the things she said and did to me. I will live with the guilt forever I am ashamed. She admitted that she helped Ray sexually traffic her one-time friend and roommate Claudia Drury and launder her millions of dollars in earnings. Isabella Pollok and Larry Ray (Photos via DOJ). 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. He was with his trusted lieutenant Isabella Pollok. These acts were committed because she was brainwashed by Ray, he said. All Rights Reserved. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. At the time her seven housemates, including Pollok, didn't see the arrangement as an issuebut things took a dark turn. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Pollok was a quiet scholarship student from San Antonio, Texas, who didn't . Pollok wept at her reflections of those actions at her sentencing. In September 2022, Pollok pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to launder money. in January to 60 years behind bars on a number of charges including extortion, sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. "While collecting money from her abused and trafficked college friends, the defendant was spending luxurious nights at the Pierre Hotel on the Upper East Side and buying expensive clothing, beauty products and high-end lingerie," prosecutors also wrote. Ray turned a guru for the young students and soon persuaded them to believe they had committed crimes against them. Interestingly, Cynthia also shared that she had been planning to see her daughter, whom she hasnt seen in over a decade. I trusted Lawrence more than I trusted myself and in doing so, I betrayed my own sense of right and wrong, she wrote. I'm now asking for a second chance.". 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. Earlier in the proceedings, Judge Liman remarked that Pollok didnt acknowledge the pain she caused her friends, and Polloks lawyers said she would do so in her remarks. Jamie Reeds shocking account of a clinic mistreating children went viral. Right-wing board to clamp down on woke ideology in cartoons. All rights reserved. Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence is out on Hulu now. Copyright 2023 Distractify. This follows Isabella's original charges of racketeering, extortion, and sex trafficking conspiracies. She had the opportunity to leave at any time, but chose to live an inflated lifestyle supported by the sex work that she and Larry Ray forced on Claudia Drury.. February 23, 2023. He was also said to have extorted money from their families and made some of them take part in forced labor and prostitution. Please remember that Isabellas role in Larrys crimes, and her willingness to play that role, were not the consequences but the goal of the way in which he abused her.. I am still a work in progress but know to the extent that I can make amends for the harm I have caused I am willing. "There is the damaged, lonely Sarah Lawrence College freshman, the letter stated. There is the awed protg. A former Sarah Lawrence College student who fell under the control of convicted predator Larry Ray admitted on Wednesday to conspiring to launder money made from his sex-trafficking scheme. He is the host of Law&Crime podcast "Objections: with Adam Klasfeld.". On Wednesday, five months after Pollok pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering, the same judge sentenced her to 54 months in prison. She was barely a teenager when she met him. And as it turns out, he had help from Sarah Lawrence college student Isabella Pollok. Pollok is being investigated for helping Ray manipulate and abuse Pollok's fellow students at Sarah Lawrence College, on September 7 2022 she pled guilty to one count of conspiring to launder money. Short of murder, there is nothing she could do to dissuade me from loving her.". Pollok must report to federal prison in 60 days, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed with. A receipt corroborated Drurys testimony, and it was initialed by Ray and Pollok. It lasted a long time. She later added: "I know I committed serious crimes and I fully accept responsibility for my actions. The fact she was recently single reportedly played a significant role in the situation as well, especially as Larry was then able to step up to help her process and make sense of a lot of things.. Ray coerced his acolytes into falsely confessing these crimes, which he compulsively recorded in audio and video tapes, evidence showed. Isabella Pollok and Larry Ray pictured in stills from "Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence." His reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" I deeply regret it. Isabella Pollok, one of the Sarah Lawrence students who fell under the influence of Lawrence V. Ray, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money. Her attorneys described something akin to deprogramming. The truth is she is a victim, albeit in a slightly different way, Bertan said. It involved extreme and sadistic violence and it was sophisticated, Liman added. While it is certainly true that the defendant was unlikely to have instigated the abuse that was inflicted on the victims, she was a willing accomplice for years. Fox News Is Reportedly Shadowbanning Donald Trump. His techniques, well established tools of coercive control, easily bonded Isabella to him. Attorneys who successfully prosecuted her. Unfortunately, Cynthia said that her effort to bring Isabella home was unsuccessful after Ray threatened to call the police and accused Cynthia of trespassing while chasing her away. 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. Like most parents, Cynthia Pollok is standing by her daughter's side through her current legal struggles. Isabella Pollok, 31, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single money laundering conspiracy count, specifically related to proceeds of Rays sick plot to traffic and extort a group of college students and other young people. And a chatbot is not a human. For Americas wage laborers, a 32-hour workweek is less of a beautiful dream than an oppressive reality. 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. Pollok was half Rays age when they met at Sarah Lawrence. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Isabella Pollok was both a victim and lieutenant of cult mastermind Larry Rays reign of terror over students at the elite New York liberal arts college, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Ray was ultimately convicted and sentenced in January to 60 years behind bars on a number of charges including extortion, sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Even when they, along with some other young adults already on his radar, moved into an Upper East Side apartment the following year, things between the duo purportedly remained smooth. In 2010, Ray allegedly recruited Pollok to help operate a campus sex cult after moving into his daughters dormitory at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. Now that Isabella is getting ready to face the music, Cynthia has pledged to stand by her side. Judge Liman imposed real consequences on Isabella Pollok for acting as Larry Rays enforcer during his reign of terror, Epner told Law&Crime. 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He called a significant sentence of imprisonment necessary, and his sentence fell just shy of the 5-year maximum sentence under her count of conviction. Isabella Pollok has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy and money laundering after prosecutors said she conspired with Lawrence Ray, the father of her one-time college roommate to psychologically manipulate and control victims, according to a grand jury indictment obtained by Oxygen.com from What I want is to see her heal, process, move on and live a good, happy life, Drury wrote in a letter to the judge before sentencing. 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. During a press conference, the mayor said his words about not believing in the separation of church and state were just his own beliefs. In one particularly disturbing encounter, Pollok taunted Drury and watched as Ray tortured her for hours in a Manhattan hotel room because he feared she had grown too close to one of her johns. 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. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. In a tearful statement before she was sentenced, Pollok who will also be required to serve three years of supervised release after she completes her prison term said she supported Ray because he controlled me in ways I cannot understand.. But she was no less a victim.. A federal judge has found sufficient evidence to name Sarah Lawrence 'cult leader' Larry Ray's daughter, Talia, as a co-conspirator along with his so-called lieutenant and co-accused Isabella . I did what they said I did.. Shellow noted that there were red flags everywhere, including people who reported it to the school. Larry Ray promised answers, peddling a credo of sexual liberation and the quest for potential. He also dazzled his young acolytes through his elaborate backstory boasting of connections to elite figures in politics, the U.S. military, and the intelligence community.