NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Two former students are suing Sarah Lawrence College, arguing the New York school failed to protect them from Lawrence Ray, who moved into his daughter's dorm after getting out of prison and then manipulated her friends and roommates into cult-like relationships.
Ray was convicted last year of charges including racketeering, conspiracy, forced labor and sex trafficking after chronicling his manipulative relationship with young people in his daughter鈥檚 circle.
Some said they were coerced into prostitution or turned over earnings and savings to Ray over abusive relationships that lasted for years.
Ray was to 60 years in prison by a judge who called him an 鈥渆vil genius鈥 who used sadism and psychological torture to control his victims.
The plaintiffs, who also include the sister of one of the students, allege in a lawsuit filed late last month that Sarah Lawrence was partly to blame for their ordeal.
The lawsuit says Ray made little attempt to hide the fact that he had moved in with his daughter in 2010 after finishing a prison sentence for securities fraud, and was allowed to remain on the campus 鈥渨hile he committed acts of manipulation, grooming, sexual abuse, food deprivation and sleep deprivation.鈥
They say college officials ignored the presence of a then-50-year-old man who moved into his daughter鈥檚 dormitory and 鈥渋mmediately integrated himself into the lives of the young people who lived in it.鈥
A college spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that the school had 鈥渄eep sympathy鈥 for Ray鈥檚 victims, but that it wouldn鈥檛 comment on the litigation 鈥渂eyond noting that we believe the facts will tell a different story than the unproven allegations made in the complaint that has been filed.鈥
Ray lived in the dorm for nearly an entire academic year, the lawsuit says, and during that time several students, community members and parents contacted the college to complain about Ray's abusive behavior, yet the college 鈥渄id nothing to investigate or intervene to prevent harm to Plaintiffs.鈥
The plaintiffs say Ray made himself so thoroughly at home that he once set off a fire alarm by cooking a meal.
Ray was the only person in the dorm room when firefighters and college security arrived, the lawsuit says, and no one from the college asked Ray what he was doing there. Nor was he monitored after the fire 鈥渢o ensure he was not residing at the dormitory with the college students,鈥 according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the Nov. 21 civil lawsuit say they were abused and manipulated by Ray for years after leaving college in locations including a Manhattan condominium and a home in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages for their pain and suffering as well as health care costs and lost potential income.
